In early March, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell presented his semi-annual update to Congress. He expressed the Federal Reserve’s willingness to raise interest rates faster. When central bank officials deem action necessary.
Silicon Valley Bank collapses after Powell’s remarks and a string of other bank failures that created a level of uncertainty within financial markets. to some extent, These bank failures were a response to rising interest rates, and at the end of the month The Fed opted for a 0.25% hike at the federal fund rate.
After the Chairman’s comments on accelerating the pace of rate hikes, A quarter increase is considered a warning, Given the uncertainty in financial markets, the Federal Reserve does not want to act too quickly. Over the course of the month, the economy added her 236,000 jobs and lowered the national unemployment rate from 0.1% to 3.5%. The Bureau of Labor Statistics is now reporting average inflation of just 0.1% in March. This is down from the 0.5% and 0.4% increases seen in January and February respectively.
To learn more about how these events and data points will influence the Fed’s choice of rate hike next month, read our full article.