Reserve Chair: Trade Wars and Interest Rates

reserve chair: The report's gloomy findings were echoed in a speech on Tuesday by the US Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, who pledged to take appropriate measures to protect the US economy from the impact of trade wars, according to The Guardian. In what was widely seen as a hint that the Fed could cut interest rates in the coming months if the US economy cools, Powell told a monetary policy conference in Chicago that the central bank was closely monitoring the implications of ongoing trade disputes. The Washington-based lender to developing world countries said in its half-yearly global health check that spiralling political uncertainty was to blame for a slowdown in trade and a collapse in investment spending that will push down GDP growth to 2.6% this year before inching up to 2.7% in 2020 . The decision by the Trump administration to impose higher tariffson Chinese imports and prolonged Brexit uncertainty were among a string of events to increase the World Bank's policy uncertainty index to a record high. He said We don't know how or when these issues will be resolved. Stock markets tumbled last month as traders began to fear an escalation in Washington's tit-for-tat with Beijing over import tariffs. As always, we will act as appropriate to sustain the expansion. (news.financializer.com). As reported in the news.