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Powell had two 45-minute meetings with staff on Feb. 26,
including one that started at 8 p.m., and also attended an
hourlong meeting at the Treasury, his monthly schedule published
Friday shows.
On Feb. 27 he met with staff from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., and then
again at 8 p.m.; on the Monday, the day Treasury put sanctions
on Russia's central bank and threatened more action if the war
continued, Powell held another 45-minute 8 p.m. staff meeting.
Though the Fed chair calendars never detail the contents of
notated meetings, the flurry of work suggests the pressure on
Powell to figure out the fallout for the U.S. economy from what
Russia calls a "special operation" designed to destroy its
southern neighbor's military capabilities and capture what it
regards as dangerous nationalists.
The invasion sent world energy prices soaring just as the Fed
was getting ready to begin a round of interest rates hikes to
fight 40-year-high inflation.
A few days after that weekend of work, Powell told lawmakers on
Capitol Hill that the near-term effects of the invasion, the
war, the sanctions, and of events to still to come "remain
highly uncertain," but he signaled the Fed's rate increases
would go ahead as expected.
(Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Andrea Ricci)
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