Jerome Powell fielded question about ‘Barbie’ and Taylor Swift after Fed rate hike
Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell on Wednesday fielded a question about the “Barbie" movie and Taylor Swift's “Eras Tour" after the US central bank raised interest rates again, according to a report by Business Insider. Jeanna Smialek of the New York Times asked Powell whether he thought massive demand for “Barbie" and Eras tickets were signs that “the American consumer is in very good shape". The Fed chair responded by highlighting the economy's overall strength – but warned that too large of a rebound in growth could lead to prices soaring again, said the report.
“The strength of the economy, overall, that's a good thing. It's good to see that, of course," Powell said. “But… at the margin, stronger growth could lead over time to higher inflation and that would require an appropriate response from monetary policy," he added.
“So we'll be watching that carefully and seeing how it evolves over time." Greta Gerwig's comedy movie “Barbie" brought in $155 million at the box office last weekend, blowing out its rival “Oppenheimer" to have the best opening of any film in 2023 so far. In the latest edition of monthly economic review the Beige Book, the Federal Reserve itself highlighted the Eras Tour boosting hotel revenues in Philadelphia. According to Bloomberg data, 99% of traders had expected the 25 basis points hike in interest rate that the central bank brought in.
On Wednesday, Powell said that the central bank will make decisions meeting by meeting, closely watching economic data, but noted that a rate cut is very unlikely this year. Powell also said policymakers could go either way with another hike or holding steady depending on what the data show in the next eight weeks. A latest report showed on Thursday that
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