© Reuters.
By Geoffrey Smith
Investing.com — U.S. stock markets opened higher after Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell laid out a change in the central bank’s approach to policy-making that is likely to rule out any hike in interest rates for some years.
By 9:35 AM ET (1335 GMT), the was up 116 points, or 0.4%, at 28,448 points. The S&P 500 was up 0.2% and the , after a series of record highs, was lagging slightly, falling less than 0.1%.
““The Committee seeks to achieve inflation that averages 2% over time, and therefore judges that, following periods when inflation has been running persistently below 2%, appropriate monetary policy will likely aim to achieve inflation immediately above 2% for some time,” The Fed said in an accompanying statement.
Analysts welcomed the move, which acknowledges the trouble the Fed has had in getting inflation up to the level that aligns best with its other goal, full employment. However, it now puts an extra onus on the central bank to achieve its goals.
“Simply making promises to allow future overshoots, via average inflation or price level-targeting, won’t count for much without a shift in the current policy approach, so that markets can think that higher inflation is more
likely,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist with Pantheon Macroeconomics.
On Wednesday, Carnival had confirmed that it would extend the suspension of some sailings through the first half of 2021, due to the pandemic.
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