Jerome Powell’s Blunt Warning: The Era of Predictable Fed Policy May Be Over

Jerome Powell’s Blunt Warning: The Era of Predictable Fed Policy May Be Over

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell stood before cameras last week and said something that Wall Street has been reluctant to hear. The old playbook — the one where inflation shocks are temporary and trade disruptions wash out in a quarter or two — may no longer apply. The economy, Powell suggested, is entering a period where the central bank’s dual mandate of stable prices and maximum employment could be pulled in opposite directions simultaneou…