U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell departs following his final press conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), at the U.S. Federal Reserve in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 29, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
WASHINGTON, April 29 (Reuters) – Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that the U.S. economy has been “quite resilient” in the face of the Iran war energy shock, and is likely to keep growing at more than 2% this year because of solid consumer spending and data center investment.
“Growth is really solid across our economy. Some of that is that consumer spending is hanging in pretty well, the most recent data are good. And some of it is just the apparently insatiable demand for data centers all over the United States,” Powell told his last policy news conference as Fed chair. “So a lot of business investment going into building data centers, and every reason to think that that continues.”
He said the Fed was committed to use its tools to drive inflation back to 2%, adding that it should subside over the course of the year as the one-time impact of goods price inflation from last year’s tariffs fades.
(Reporting by David Lawder)