12:45 PM EDT, 04/03/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The Federal Open Market Committee still has work to do to bring inflation down to its 2% goal and will continue to make decisions based on the incoming data, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Wednesday at Stanford Business, Government, and Society Forum.

Recent data on job and inflation growth has been stronger than expected but has not materially changed the overall assessment of "solid growth, a strong but rebalancing labor market, and inflation moving down toward 2% on a sometimes bumpy path," according to Powell.

It is too early to say whether recent inflation is "more than just a bump," so uncertainty remains.

"We do not expect that it will be appropriate to lower our policy rate until we have greater confidence that inflation is moving sustainably down toward 2%," Powell repeated. "Given the strength of the economy and progress on inflation so far, we have time to let the incoming data guide our decisions on policy."

However, Powell reiterated his previous comments that it is likely to lower interest rates at some point this year, but there are risks of easing too early or too late.

"As conditions evolve, monetary policy is well positioned to confront either of these risks," Powell said. "We are making decisions meeting by meeting, and we will do everything we can to achieve our maximum-employment and price-stability goals."

Powell said that the Fed's independence allows it to act in support of its dual goals of maximum employment and stable prices while being free of political and personal biases.

It is important for the Fed to also resist wading into political topics such as climate change that fall outside of its assigned mandate.