Even with the recent turmoil in the banking industry, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said a soft economic landing is still possible.
The pathway still exists and we are still trying to find it, Powell said. Financial conditions have tightened more than traditional financial indexes say. Powell said it was too early to say how much impact the stress on the banking industry has had on economic conditions. The question is how long the period will be, Powell said, noting that the longer the banking crisis lasts, the tighter credit conditions will be.
He said that any possible recession would be hard to model because they are very hard to model.
We don't know where it will happen this time. We are very focused on getting inflation down. The result is a long series of high and volatile prices increases if a central bank can't control inflation.
It is just a place where we should try and get to, Powell said.