Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman suggested on Monday that the central bank’s interest rate hikes may be coming to an end, signaling a possible pause in the tightening cycle. Speaking at a community bankers conference in South Carolina, Bowman highlighted the Fed’s progress in combating inflation through its tight monetary policy.
“Based on this progress, my view has evolved to consider the possibility that the rate of inflation could decline further with the policy rate held at the current level for some time,” Bowman said in prepared remarks. However, she also noted that if inflation continues to decline toward the Fed’s 2% goal, “it will eventually become appropriate” to begin the process of dialing back rates. She added, “In my view, we are not yet at that point.”
This signals that while rate hikes may be on hold for now, the central bank may not be ready to start cutting rates just yet.
Meanwhile, in after-hours trading, Unity Software shares jumped over 3% after the company announced it is cutting 25% of its workforce, or about 1,800 workers. On the other hand, Microchip Technology shares dropped more than 3% after the company revised its fiscal third-quarter revenue forecast, citing a weakening economic environment. JetBlue Airways shares rose over 1% after the company announced that President and Chief Operating Officer Joanna Geraghty will succeed Robin Hayes as CEO effective February 12.
Overall, stock futures opened lower following these after-hours movements.
For the full list of companies making headlines in after-hours trading and further details, please refer to the original article.
– Darla Mercado, Jeff Cox, Sarah Min