POWELL SPEECH: WE WON'T KEEP IT A SECRET WHEN WE HAVE CONFIDENCE ON INFLATION

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell explains the decision to leave the policy rate, federal funds rate, unchanged at the range of 5.25-5.5% and responds to questions in the post-meeting press conference.

Key quotes

"Not in a position to put a number on number of months of low inflation needed to have confidence."

"We have growing confidence in the inflation data but we have to get it right."

"We want to make sure we get the job on inflation done in a sustainable way."

"We won't keep it a secret when we have confidence on inflation."

"If we get very strong inflation data and it heads back up, we will go slower or later or both."

"If inflation data is better than expected, we would do the opposite."

"Not so worried that growth is too strong and inflation could come back."

"Continued declines in inflation are what we are looking for."

"Growth only matters in how it interacts with our dual mandate