The U.S. Federal Reserve has ordered the sharpest interest rate hikes since the 1980s. On Wednesday, Chair Jerome Powell announced the Fed’s fourth consecutive 0.75-point increase and warned further hikes may be necessary. Powell said the Fed’s overarching goal remains bringing inflation under control, even as he acknowledged the rate increases now look likely to trigger a recession. 

Jerome Powell: “My colleagues and I are strongly committed to bringing inflation back down to our 2% goal. We have both the tools that we need and the resolve it will take to restore price stability on behalf of American families and businesses.”

The Fed’s actions have pushed mortgage rates to their highest level in 20 years and threaten to end a period of historically low unemployment. Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO federation of labor unions, said, “Working people should not be the target of lowering inflation — it should be corporations that are earning record profits.”