Fed Leaves Interest Rates Near Zero, Downplays COVID Economic Impact

Chairman Jerome Powell suggested the Delta variant poses little threat to the economy despite growing concerns.

The spread of the COVID-19 Delta variant is raising infections, leading some companies and governments to require vaccinations and raising concerns about the U.S. economic recovery. But on Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell injected a note of reassurance, suggesting that the delta variant poses little threat to the economy, at least so far. “What we’ve seen is with successive waves of COVID over the past year and some months now," Powell said at a news conference, "there has tended to be less in the way of economic implications from each wave. We will see whether that is the case with the delta variety, but it’s certainly not an unreasonable expectation.”