US Fed "Inappropriate to narrow the range of interest rate adjustments until inflation is confidently moderating"

In an official statement published on its website, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) of the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed) said, "The Committee does not believe it is appropriate to narrow the range of interest rate adjustments until it has greater confidence that inflation will move back to within 2 percent. The Committee may also adjust the stance of monetary policy if challenges to achieving its inflation objective emerge." However, in a subsequent press conference following the January Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, during which US Federal Reserve (Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell answered questions, he said: "We believe that the U.S. federal funds rate may have peaked and that it may be appropriate to begin lowering rates at some point this year. "If economic conditions evolve as we expect, we will adjust the federal funds rate this year, but we could maintain the current rate for an extended period if necessary.