(FILES) US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell speaks during a press conference following the Federal Open Market Committee meeting at the Federal Reserve Board Building in Washington, DC, on March 18, 2026. US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on March 30, 2026, that the central bank can look past the energy shock from war in the Middle East, but may have to act if rising costs change expectations about inflation. "The tendency is to look through any kind of a supply shock," Powell told a Harvard University event. This is because "energy shocks have tended to come and go pretty quickly" but monetary policy changes take time to flow through the economy, he said. (Photo by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / AFP via Getty Images)