Fed’s Wait-and-See Mode Amid Tariff Fallout Clouds Natural Gas Supply/Demand Outlook

Natural gas market participants who looked for the Federal Reserve (Fed) to heap a dose of certainty atop an economic backdrop laced with unknowns got the opposite this week.

Policymakers on Wednesday left their benchmark interest rate unchanged and warned in a statement that, in the wake of President Trump’s evolving tariff campaign, “the risks of higher unemployment and higher inflation have risen.”

The Fed’s dual mandate is to keep inflation in check and the jobless rate low. It could raise interest rates to tamp down spending and tame inflation. Or it could cut rates to encourage borrowing and investment that would propel economic activity and support the job market. Caught in between, policymakers stayed on the sidelines. Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated he and his colleagues may do the same again when they next meet in June, barring tariff clarity.