, Columnist
Powell Looks Prescient as Oil Price Collapses
Crude is just the first and most extreme example of how the economic standstill will send deflationary shockwaves through markets.
Now he might need to worry about deflation.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg
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“One thing I don’t worry about is inflation right now.”
When Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said this during a webcast on April 9, I admit my first thought was that it could end up being a contrarian signal — it’s the risks no one sees coming that are the scariest, after all. Inflation obviously won’t surge with much of the U.S. on lockdown to combat the spread of the coronavirus, but it’s possible that huge fiscal and monetary policy interventions will lead to rapid price growth once the economy restarts.