Minutes after the speech, investors pegged the chances of a quarter-point interest rate cut at 91%, up from a 75% chance assessed one day earlier, according to CME FedWatch Tool, a measure of market sentiment. Despite the market's positive reaction to Powell's speech, the Fed chair voiced a note of caution for the outlook for the U.S. economy.

Now that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell has signaled that the central bank could soon cut its key interest rate, he faces a new challenge: how to do it without seeming to cave to the White House’