US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the US economy remains strong and also commented on Bitcoin BTC/USD at the New York Times Dealbook Summit on Wednesday.
Read more: “The U.S. economy is in very good shape right now. It's surprisingly good. We are the envy of other economic powers around the world, and I will do everything in my power to keep it that way.” “I'm going to serve out the remainder of my term, and I feel very good about the economic and monetary policy situation,” Powell said.
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Powell said the Fed could be cautious about returning interest rates to more neutral levels given current economic conditions.
“We view this as a bit hawkish, but we are well short of disputing the market's growing confidence that a December rate cut is the base case,” Evercore's Krishna Guha said, according to Bloomberg. “This has been our view all along.”
The Fed's next rate decision is scheduled for Dec. 18, and the market has a roughly 75% chance that the Federal Open Market Committee will cut the key borrowing rate by a quarter of a percentage point. The Fed is then expected to skip its January meeting and then make several more rate cuts in 2025, according to CNBC.
Powell on BTC: Powell also mentioned Bitcoin at the DealBook Summit.
“People are using Bitcoin as a speculative asset. Bitcoin is like gold, it's just virtual and digital,” Powell said during the discussion.
He added: “It's not a competitor to the dollar. It's actually a competitor to gold.”
Following Powell's comments and comments from crypto advocates on social media, Bitcoin's price rose, approaching the $100,000 level.
Anthony Pompliano, CEO of Professional Capital Management, reflected on the crypto market's reaction to Powell's comments.
“Bitcoin is going up because people realize that central banks and countries don't hate it anymore. It's poetic,” Pompliano wrote on X.
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