Fed's Jerome Powell weighs earlier end to bond tapering amid hot inflation

Powell said it's time to stop using the word "transitory" to describe inflation

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said it’s appropriate to consider finishing the U.S. central bank’s tapering of asset purchases a few months earlier than previously expected, with inflation proving more persistent than forecast.

Powell made the comment Tuesday in response to questions during a Senate Banking Committee hearing in Washington. The Fed is currently scheduled to complete its asset-purchase program in mid-2022 under a plan announced at the start of November; policy makers next meet December 14-15, where they could make a decision to accelerate the tapering.

It’s “appropriate in my view to consider wrapping up the taper of our asset purchases,