the us economy “slowed significantly” last year and continued its cooler trend with modest growth in the first quarter despite resilience in consumer spending fed chair jerome powell said at his postfomc meeting press conference the labor market remains “very tight” but labor supply and demand “have moved into better balance” he said nominal wage growth has shown some signs of easing but overall job openings are still far higher than available workers which puts pressure on wages he said inflation has “moderated somewhat” since the middle of last year but there is “still a long way to go” on the plus side mr powell said inflation expectations remain “wellanchored”