Powell's final appearance on Wednesday, the era of "plain language communication" may come to an end

BlockBeats News, April 27 — Jerome Powell will hold his final official press conference as Federal Reserve Chair on Wednesday (early Thursday Beijing time), which may mark the end of the period in which he regularly holds a Q&A session with reporters as the Fed’s top official. Investors and economic observers are closely watching this type of press conference. Those who support the Fed Chair appearing regularly in the media believe this allows the central bank to shape the narrative around its interest-rate decisions and helps markets digest Federal Reserve policy. But some critics, including Kevin Wush, the person nominated by Trump to succeed the Fed Chair, believe Fed officials communicate too much. Wush is very likely to be confirmed before the Fed’s next policy meeting in mid-June; he has hinted that he might completely stop holding regular press conferences.

In 2019—less than a year after taking office—Powell began holding press conferences after every meeting. When announcing this move, Powell said he hoped to “summarize the economic situation in plain, easy-to-understand language,” because monetary policy affects everyone. In testimony before the Senate Banking Committee last week, Wush hinted that he might stop holding press conferences. When asked whether he would stick with holding eight press conferences, Wush said, “When you hold a press conference, there always has to be some important news to release.”

Deutsche Bank’s chief U.S. economist, Matt Luzetti, is skeptical that Wush will end the arrangement of holding a press conference after each meeting. In a report to clients, he said, “Press conferences provide him with a powerful and frequent platform, enabling him to immediately leave his personal imprint on the Fed’s messaging after each policy decision and shape the narrative. Giving up this stage would be a missed opportunity.” At this week’s meeting, the Fed is almost certain not to make any adjustments to interest rates.