FEDERAL Reserve chair Jerome Powell heads into what could be his last year atop the central bank determined not to repeat the mistake he made when he was a neophyte monetary policymaker seven years ago.
Then a Fed governor, Powell was among those leading the charge to scale back the central bank’s quantitative-easing (QE) programme – a stance that led to the economically debilitating and market-wrenching taper tantrum of 2013.
Powell, whose four-year term as chair ends in February 2022, is likely to sound more cautious this week about curbing the Fed’s massive asset purchases – even though the economic outlook has brightened further thanks to an expected big budgetary boost from President Joe Biden.
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