Economic outlook, employment gains support accelerating taper: Powell press conference

Economic growth and "rapid gains" in the employment picture are supporting the central bank's decision to accelerate the tapering of its asset purchase program, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said during his post-FOMC press conference. The recent increase in COVID and the emergence of the Omicron variant "poses risk to the outlook," he said. "The economy no longer needs increasing amounts of policy support," Powell said. 3:18 PM ET: He thinks cryptocurrency risks are a longer-term risk doesn't think of them as a financial stability concern. Also, he commented that stablecoins are not currently property regulated. 3:16 PM ET: "Asset valuations are somewhat elevated," he In terms of financial risks, "businesses have debt, but their default rates are very low." Money market funds are a vulnerability. Cyber risk is harder to deal with, he said. 3:13 PM ET: "The risk of inflation becoming entrenched has increased. I don't think it's high, but