Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell dropped an f-bomb during a speech on Thursday, where he expressed uncertainty about the effectiveness of recent measures to combat inflation. 

Addressing an International Monetary Fund audience in Washington, DC, Powell stated that while the Federal Open Market Committee is committed to achieving a sufficiently restrictive monetary policy to bring inflation down to 2%, there remains more work to be done.

“The Federal Open Market Committee is committed to achieving a stance of monetary policy that is sufficiently restrictive to bring inflation down to 2% over time; we are not confident that we have achieved such a stance,” he read from a prepared speech.

The speech was briefly interrupted by climate protestors, with Powell remaining calm as a woman voiced concerns about the Federal Reserve’s approach to climate change. Powell was guided off the stage while the protesters were escorted out.

Powell’s response, including an unexpected expletive captured on the camera feed, provided a rare moment of relatability for the usually reserved Fed chair.

“Thank you very much,” Powell said off-camera before addressing an aid. “Thank you. Just close the fucking door. Close the door.”

After the interruption, Powell resumed discussing inflation, acknowledging progress but emphasizing that the process of reducing inflation to the target level still has a long way to go. 

“My colleagues and I are gratified by this progress but expect that the process of getting inflation sustainably down to 2% has a long way to go,” he said. He reassured the audience that the Fed is dedicated to the task and will persist until success is achieved.

But the markets were not reassured. The “we are not confident” part hit right away, Dow Jones Industrial Average fell close to 200 points after the speech. Treasury yields, which had been declining in recent weeks, experienced an upward surge, influenced in part by a poorly received 30-year bond auction. 

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