Powell Makes Most Open Acknowledgement Yet On Possible Recession

A recession is "certainly a possibility" if interest rates rise too high too fast -- that's the most open acknowledgement yet from Powell that recession is a potential outcome on the horizon.

• When asked last week whether the FOMC was trying to induce a recession to reduce inflation, he said that the "pathways" to get to a strong labor market and inflation back to target "have become much more challenging due to factors that are not under our control".
• Similar to today's "not our intention" to cause recession, last week he said the FOMC was "not trying to induce a recession now". But last week he didn't say a recession outcome was "certainly a possibility".