Jerome Powell

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the central bank will maintain its muscular efforts to support the flow of credit in the U.S. economy as Americans hunker down from the coronavirus pandemic.

The actions include cutting the federal funds rate to between 0% and 0.25% and other steps to ease economic stress from the spread of the coronavirus.

In announcing the central bank’s emergency rate cut, Chairman Jerome Powell warned that the Fed can only do so much.

The Federal Reserve is monitoring the COVID-19 issue and its economic effects, according to a release from the central bank, attributed to Chairman Jerome Powell, released Friday.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told senators that the central bank is willing to explore a credit-sensitive interest benchmark in addition to the secured overnight financing rate, which some banks say could cause problems during economic stress.

In another rollback of the bank trading ban, the federal agencies unveiled a plan to allow financial institutions to invest in multiple companies through certain fund structures.

Unlike previous central bank chiefs, Powell’s chances of being renominated by either the current president or many of the Democratic contenders are slim.

Fresh data from the Fed, FDIC and Bank of England shows that, directly or indirectly, banks are taking on more leveraged loans. But whether this puts their loan and securities portfolios at risk remains open for debate.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell says the agency is closely monitoring leveraged lending risks, but suggests further regulations on banks aren’t warranted.

Although higher corporate debt could hurt the economy, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell argued changes made since the last crisis will guard against a meltdown.