Fed leaves rates steady despite Trump pressure, gives no hint of September cut

WASHINGTON — The U.S. central bank held interest rates steady on Wednesday and Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s comments after the decision undercut confidence that borrowing costs would begin to fall in September, possibly stoking the ire of President Donald Trump who has demanded immediate and steep rate relief. Powell said the Fed is focused on controlling inflation — not on government borrowing or home mortgage costs that Trump wants lowered — and added that the risk of rising price pressures from the administration’s trade and other policies remains too high for the central bank to begin loosening its “modestly restrictive” grip on the economy until more information is collected. While there will be two full months of data before the Fed’s September 16-17 meeting, Powell said the central bank was still in the early stages of understanding how Trump’s rewrite of import taxes and other policy changes will unfold in terms of inflation, jobs and economic growth. “You have to think of this as still quite early days,” Powell said in a press conference after the release of the

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