Powell stresses message that US job market is cooling, a possible signal of coming rate cut

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reinforced a message that the Fed is paying growing attention to a slowing job market and not only to taming inflation, a shift that signals it’s likely to begin cutting interest rates soon. “We’re not just an inflation-targeting central bank,’’ Powell told the House Financial Services Committee on the second of two days of semi-annual testimony to Congress. “We also have an employment mandate.” The Fed chair was reiterating a point he had made in his testimony to a Senate committee on Tuesday.