Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who has just over a month left in his tenure as head of the world's most important central bank, speaks at 10:30am ET to the Harvard University Principles of Economics class. He is not expected to make monetary policy comments. 

As CNBC notes, this will be one of Powell’s final scheduled public appearances before his term ends in May. The discussion comes with markets anticipating the central bank will be on hold regarding interest rates through the end of the year.

In his most recent comments, Powell characterized the economy as growing at “a solid pace” and said he is not concerned with worries of stagflation, low growth with high inflation. However, he noted that policymakers are taking a cautious approach as multiple factors play out this year, including the Iran war, tariffs and a stagnant labor market; he flagged frustration over sticky non-housing services and made clear that, if inflation progress does not resume, cuts will not follow.

On rates, Powell kept optionality but did not open the door to near-term easing. He said policy was in a good place, noting it was around the high end of neutral, or only modestly restrictive. He said the labour market was being watched closely, particularly weak private payroll growth, but stopped short of suggesting employment risks now dominate the Fed’s policy balance.

On his role as Fed Chair, Powell said that if a successor had not been confirmed before his term as Chair ends in May, he would remain in place as Fed Chair "Pro Tern"; on his role as Governor beyond that, he said he has no intention of leaving the Board until the DoJ investigation is over, and he he had not yet decided whether he would stay on.

Powell’s term ends officially on May 15, and there is only one more policy meeting between now and then. However, it’s possible he will stay in the position longer if the Senate does not confirm is designated successor, former Governor Kevin Warsh.

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