Meg Waters is the editor in chief of Treasury & Risk. She is the former editor in chief of BPM Magazine and the former managing editor of Business Finance.
"These days we mostly care about what the PPI means for the Fed's preferred PCE deflator measure of core consumer price inflation. In that respect, April's news was mixed but, on balance, encouraging."
"If inflation started to tick back down or we saw some marked weakening in the labor market, then that might cause us to cut back on interest rates. Or, if we get convinced that inflation is entrenched at 3 percent and we need to go higher, we will do that."
In remarks following today's FOMC meeting, Powell did not comment on whether rate cuts are likely this year, something he has said after prior meetings.