IF economics is the dismal science, Jerome Powell may be one of its greatest practitioners.

Investors have come to expect a dose of gloom from the Federal Reserve chairman at his post-Federal Open Market Committee meeting press conferences. On Wednesday (Sep 20), he outdid himself on the stern stakes.

The Fed left rates unchanged at the current level of between 5.25 per cent and 5.5 per cent. The rhetoric that accompanied the policy move, however, has Wall Street strategists calling the move a “hawkish pause”.