Fed Chair Jerome Powell defended the Federal Open Meeting Committee’s universal decision to hold the Federal Funds Rate steady at 4.25% - 4.50% in June. The FOMC’s “wait and see” approach to the funds rate was in keeping, Powell said, with the Fed’s dual mandate of prudent monetary policy.

U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he would not appoint anyone to head the Federal Reserve who would not lower interest rates from where they are, setting perhaps the most explicit litmus test yet for candidates to be the next central bank chief to align with his demands for steep rate cuts in order to get the job.