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2026-02-13 22:42:47
[Institutions: Powell Faces a "Delicate Balance" Between Employment and Prices in the Final Months of His Tenure] In commenting on the US January CPI report, institutions pointed out that the January CPI rose 2.4% year-on-year, lower than the previous value and market expectations; excluding volatile food and energy prices, the core CPI rose 2.5% year-on-year, in line with market expectations. Meanwhile, the non-farm payroll report released earlier this week showed that US employment growth in January exceeded expectations, and the unemployment rate fell to 4.3%. Despite the double benefit of slowing inflation and robust employment, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell still faces the challenge of a "delicate balance" between employment and prices in the final months of his eight-year term: effectively curbing inflation while avoiding shocks to the labor market. Previously, aggressive interest rate hikes successfully curbed the price surge in 2022, and with the decline in inflation and a cooling job market, the Fed has cumulatively cut interest rates by nearly 2 percentage points since the summer of 2024, and paused rate cuts in January of this year. With increasing signs of weakening price pressures, economists generally predict that US inflation will further decline in 2026.
