Powell says Fed has made ‘quite a bit of progress’ on inflation but needs more confidence before cutting [Video]

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell expressed satisfaction Tuesday with the progress on inflation over the past year but said he wants to see more before being confident enough to start cutting interest rates.

“We’ve made quite a bit of progress and in bringing inflation back down to our target,” Powell said at a central banking forum in Sintra, Portugal.

“The last [inflation] reading and the one before it to a lesser extent, suggest that we are getting back on the disinflationary path. We want to be more confident that inflation is moving sustainably down toward 2% before we start the process of reducing or loosening policy,” he added.

Powell spoke at a forum that also included European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde and Brazil central bank Governor Roberto Campos Neto. The forum was presented by the ECB and the discussion was moderated by CNBC’s Sara Eisen.

The comments come with markets closely watching moves from the Fed and its global …