>> just like under businesses, we all decide to understand trends from data which we can see. but we are really -- that, of course, is sundar pichai. we're getting the latest decision on interest rates for the fed. steve liesman has the details. >> maintaining the 0 to 0.25, and saying it will maintain that rate, or that target range until it's confident the economy has weathered recent events. it will -- it's pledging to increase the holdings and mortgage-backed securities to support the economy. economic activity, this is a new addition, it says an employment picked up somewhat in recent months, though these node that both of them, the commission and employment have remained well below levels

taken by the federal reserve the path depends of course on the virus it societies the crisis will weigh heavily in the medium term and poses keshl risk, very much a carbon copy, just a couple additions here and from the year, there was one other change that i will tell you about. it was that the path of the economy will depend significantly on the course of the virus. kelly? >> we appreciate it. we're going to welcome in our fed panel. mona hodges, david kelly and jim

carron it's great to have you all here. i'll go to you, dave, for what you think are the most important messages as we watch the markets so far showing little change from where we saw before the decision came out. >> really what's happened since their june meeting is we have seen a surprisingly strong bounce, but then the viruses come back, and that resurgence is -- what they're saying is this is not over we know it's very uncertainty. the economy has a lot of recovery to do yet, and they're going to remain very dovish while the pandemic is going on so i think it's a signal that rates will remain low, very supportive, for as long as the economy is battling this pandemic. >> maybe we can show gold prices, but how does today's decision a lot of the discussion

over what that means >> well, i think in some ways it adds to it they know it's low right now, but they're going to build up government debt. we have an awful lot of fiscal stimulus, if we don't pull back on that, there is an inflation threat i think that's one of the reasons you're seeing this weaker dollar and stronger gold in recent days. >> so the question here is, are we facing a bubble in et cetera? and with the fed, if they can continue to assert their commitment, to not even thinking about thinking about raising wrights, will we see that assets bubble, if you will, continue to expand >> yeah, you know clearly what we have been seeing is a bit of a patina effect here there is no alternative. with rates this low and the fed's commitment to keep rates low through 2022, investors will be looking to where can i do to

get any semblance of a decent return we have seen that exhibited even in treasury bonds whether or not it's a bubble remains to be seen i think thus far, valuations, for example in the tech land have not really mirrored or approached that of the tech bubble back in 1999. that's because a lot of these sectors are beneficiaries of what's happening in the economy keep in mind, generally speaking, the fed will probably be on hold the next meeting is the last one so this clearly could last throughout at least 2020 and beyond >> watching the market reaction, there is something to discern, the dollar a tiny bit stronger

maybe that will pose an intermediate headwind here but the largest question remains asset prices overall, and this sense that there's not going to be any movement for quite some time the ten-year was almost at a record low going into this, we're still at 0.6%. do we keep just falling? are we going to be pinned at these levels what's your read on these things >> i think the yield that keeping falling is real yields essential what is happening, the fed is essential unapologetic. now here's where the logic sequencing -- logical sequencing starts to really matter. we have to talk about dollar at the same time with gold. as we have fiscal policy, we decrease -- we have monetary policy to keep rates low,

there's no free lunch. the dollar reserve currency is starting to go down, so for global holders, they need to replace it with something else gold or silver, precious metals, that becomes some of of a store in value, so effectively what you're starting to see is an easing of financial conditions, which effect liver the fed's goal the fed is managing toward the pandemic they don't think about a virus -- a vaccine in three months or something like that. what mere managing is to a worst-case scenario. keeping rates low, the dollar weakening, all of these things help ease conditions the ultimate goal for the fed is to reduce the long-term risk of any economic damage that could potentially occur from the lockdowns that came as a result of the pandemic. their view is if they're too

easy right now, they can take it back later without too much problem, but they better do something now in case things get worse later. that's the motor of operations they're in right now >> could there be a bit of a self-correction there we saul real yields go negative in march when you compare to the five-year yield. that's when you saw gold prices take off should we think that bond money will start going into gold or will continue to go into gold, and therefore the price of bonds will become lower and yields will go higher, so like a little self-correction? >> yeah, we can think of real yields as a commodity price of real assets. so tips, you know, real yield bond prices keep going up, and real yield keeps going down. ten-year real yields are minus 94, 95 basis points. at that time, the euro was like

at 1.3 it was a so essential essential as the dollar gets weeker, you know, in the u.s., this is a supporter for sfm -- so therefore as the dollar weekends so in many ways, this is almost an easing, so it's very much tied together, so could there be a correction yes, i would expect more of the same >> i have one quick follow-up, and why didn't the gold price

keep rising when the stocks did? >> yeah, look, i mean, that's a very, very different type of, you know, type of a cycle. and it would a lot to do with banking and housing industry i blows up to double-digit levels, and probably will stay there for a numbers of year. just initially for a very brief moment and i don't know if we're going to see that immediately as the size of the shock. thank you all. we really appreciate it.

let's go to steve for some final thoughts. >> very quickly. >> the the fed got a pass this time what's critical. in the next 20 minutes is the extent to which he begins to tee us up. how close they are to making, that won't be true when they reconvene in the fall. first the dollar stronger, a little bit week. not much change in that at all

we're trying to get back there fairly muted, they're still holding right near the highs of the day. they've been dramatic underperformers, i want to know the vix here as the market is believing that the second quarter was the bottom for corporate earnings. i think what i'd like to hear and what a lot of traders would like to hear is what kind of programs they can use that they have already got in a more creative manner. they certainly have a lot more money they can put into the economy. let's check into rick santelli for the reaction. the reason is what we've been discussing they're down close to the all-time low yields.

the big story and covid, whether through vaccines, through other forms of medicine, or just being ability to deal with the effects in a more official way,ening that allows us to approve is going to create an issue where there's an awful lot of liquidity out there. >> rick, thank you of course, we are eight waiting comments from jerome powell, but now we want to be back to the house subcommittee counter the ceos of apple, facebook, microsoft and google. >> this is exactly the type of anticompetitive acquisition that the antitrust laws try to

prevent. it cannot happen again i yield back >> i would remind the witness that -- of course, do not alleviate the antitrust challenges that the chairman described. with that, i'm going to recognize the gentleman from colorado again, thank him for co-hosting one of the most important hearing, sand you're recognized for five minutes >> i want to offer my appreciation to you for the bipartisan way you have approached the subcommittee's investigation. i want to start by staying capitalism is the greatest instrument for freedom it's given the united states to beat babb fascism and put a man on the moon thiseconomic -- our witnesses

have taken ideas out of of all enjoyed the freedom to succeed in fact, big is often a source for good mr. pichai in october 2018, google dropped out of the running for a contract for the jedi countered, valued at more than $10 billion. google's stated reason for removing itself from the bidding process is that the u.s. military's project did not align with google's corporate values and principles this is the same u.s. military that fights for our freedoms and stands as a force for good across the globe these are the same soldiers, sailors and airmen that sackries fights that's lives to ensure of

the free don't and sent your corporate policies white house fear unlike in communist china i also find it interonly after months of making this decision to withdraw, marine general joseph dunford, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff warned a committee that the chinese military was directly benefiting from google's work it made me wonder , is it that the communist party imprisons uighur muslims in concentration camps? as shown on the chart behind me? could it be that china forces slaves to work in sweat shops? maybe they align on the design to suppress free speech in hong kong did google great with ccp's decision to line to the world about the global pandemic? then i thought about the

dragonfly experiment i wonder if perhaps you agreed with the chinese government's use of platforms to spy on its own people and infers enfo enforeforce drawn conian laws. maybe the strategy is to steal whatever can't be produced domestically >> they values, but not the u.s. military help explained why google wouldn't think twice about stealing right down to the watermark without any hint of attribution. i heard a story that sound sod braz brazen, that it must have been straight from the commune ease communist party and published to say lyrics on the platform

a digital wart market that fend out red-handed after google executives stated that they were investigating this problematic behavior, to determine the scope of the miss appropriation. it turns out that out 271 songs, 43% shod clear evidence of matching your company, which advertises itself as a doorway to freedom, took advantage of this small company, all but extinguishing genius's freedom to compete. your corporate values once stood for freedom, a platform that let capitalism flourish and helped bring countless people across

the globe out of poverty my question to you, mr. pichai, do you think google could get away with following china's playbook if you didn't have a monopolistic advantage in the market. >> congressman, i want to address the important comments you raise, first of all, we are proud to support the u.s. government we recently signed a big project with the department of defense where we are bringing or secular approach to help protect pentagon networks. we have projects under way with the navy, with the department of veterans affairs happy to follow up and explain more we have a very limited presence in china we don't offer any of our services in china. with respect to music, we license content there. in fact we license content from other companies, so this is a dispute between genius and the other companies in terms of the

source of the content, but again happy to engage and explain what we do here further >> thank you i yield back, mr. chairman. >> i now recognize the gentleman from georgia, mr. johnson, for five minutes >> thank you, mr. chairman mr. cook with over 100 million iphone users in the united states alone and with apple's ownership of the app store, giving apple control of which apps can be marketed to apple users, you wield immense power over small businesses to grow and pros speaker apple is the sole decision maker as to whether an app is made available for app user through apple's app store, isn't that

correct? >> it's a feature of the iphone, much like the camera and chip is -- >> my point is -- i'm sorry to interrupt. the point is that apple is the sole decision maker as to whether an app is made available to app users through the apple store. snark? -- isn't that correct? >> if it's a native app, yes, sir. if it's a web app, no. >> we've heard that rules governing the app store review process are not available to app developers the rules are made up as you go. they are arbitrarily interprete and everyone forced and subject to change whenever apple -- and developers have no choice to go along with the changes or they must leave the app store that's an enormous amount of power? also the rules get changed to

benefit apple at the expense of app developers, and the app store is said to also discriminate between app developers with similar apps on the apple platform, and also as to small app developers versus large app developers. mr. cook, does apple not treat all app developers equally >> sir, we treat every developer the same we have open and transparent rules. because we care so deeply about privacy, we do -- but those rules apply evenly to anyone >> some developers are favored over others, though, isn't that correct? >> that is not correct as you can tell from going --

>> i'll give you an example. baidu has two app store employees assigned to help it navigate the app store bureaucracy. is that true >> i don't know about that, sir. >> enks we you don't have other app developers who have that same access to we do the beta test apps, regardless of whether they're small or large. >> let me ask you this question for some a.m. by amazon prime, is that a reduced commission such as the one that amazon tries to get available to other app developers >> it's available to anyone meeting the conditions, yes.

>> will you me ask you, do they require all app developers to use apple's payments processing system if those developers want to sell their goods or services to apple users through apple as app store. isn't that correct >> that is correct. >> and by processing payments for apps that you allow into the app store, you collect their customer today, and you use that data to inform apple as to whether apple should -- whether or not it will be profit appear for apple to launch a competing app. depending on the specifics

>> what's to stop apple toic inning its commission to 50% >> sir, we have never increased commissions in the store since the first day it operated in 2008. >> there's nothing to stop you from doing so? >> i disagree strongly with that there's a competition for developers just like there's a competition for customers. the competition for developers, they can write their apps for android, windows, e. box, playstation. we have fear competition at the developer side and the customer side, who went put about their frustrations with the app store?

>> sir, we to no retalia i or bully people it's strongly against our culture. >> the time for the gentleman has expired. now mr. gates. >> you made the claim that facebook is an american company with american values do any of the rest of you take a different view project maven was a collaboration between google as the department of defense that google pulled out, citing ethical concerns you made the decision to pull out of that joint venture following receipt of a letter from thousands of your employees. my question, mr. pichai, did you weigh the input from your employees when making the decision to abandon that project

with the united states military? >> congressman, thanks for your concern. as i said earlier, we're deeply committed to supporting the military and the u.s. government we have undertaken several projects since then. we do take our employees -- in as a company, we are new in the cloud spate at time since then. >> thank you that's a sufficient answer you did take their feedback into account. in fact some of yours googlers have recently sent a letter, asking to exit other partnerships some of the asked you to stop doing business with american law enforcement saying police broughtly uphold white supremacy and google should not be engaged in any services to police. as you well know, you provide some of the most basic services to police like e-mail, but also provide services that help keep

our cops safe when they're doing their job. my question here, in front of the congress and the american people, will you take the pledge that google will not adopt the bigoted anti-police policy that is requested in the most recent letter >> congressman, we have a long,o working with law enforcement supported by due process we push back against all broad requests the we are transparent with the requests we get. >> i understand the history. i'm asking about the future. to the law enforcement that are watching today, can they rest assured under your leadership google will not adopt these bigot eed anti-police policies. >> we have committed to working with law enforcement that's consistent with due process in the u.s. >> i know that will be very

comfort able to the police who utilize your services. you mentioned earlier in the discussion about china that your engagement in china was very limit limiteded chinese academy of sciences haw published a paper that enhanced the targeting -- you collaborate with chinese universities that take mill i don't think upon millions from the chinese military as a matter of fact, one of your googlers, fifi lee, while under your employ, was cited in chinese state media saying china is like a sleeping giant when she wakes, she will tremble the world. the former secretary of defense, mr. shanahan, said that the lines have been blurred in china between commercial and military application, and as mr. buck cited, general dunford says your company is directly aiding the chinese military, and peter

teal, who surfed on the board at facebook, says google's activities with china are treasonous the he accused of treesing would i would an american company with american values, so directly aid the chinese military but have ethical concerns working alongside with the military about project maven. i understand your concerns about security, but project mach was to ensure that our troops are safe on the battlefield. if you have no problem making the j-20 chinese fighter more effective in targeting, why wouldn't you want to make america as effective inch congressman, with respect, we are not working with the chinese military it's absolutely false. i had a chance to speak with the general personally we have clarifying, it's very, very limited our ai work is limited to people

working on open-source projects. i would happy to engage with your office to explain our work in china. >> when the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff says an american company is directly aiding china, when you have you have an ai center, working with universities, employees are talking about china trembling the world, it seems to call into question your commitment to our country and our values i see my time has expired. i hope we have an additional round. we have just been hearing from the ceos at the federal

reserve, we remain in recent months, economic activities picked up, as the economy began to reopen. results, household spending looks to have recovered during half of its earlier decline. the recoveries in household spending also likely owes to federal stimulus which provided in contrast, indicators of business fixed investment have yet to show a recovery

even with the improved economic news in pay and june, overall activity remains below its level, and the contraction will likely be the largest on record. the labor market has followed a similar pattern. after precipitous drops in march and april, employment rose strongly in may and june, as many people returned to work from temporary layoffs as a result of the roughly 2 million jobs that had been lost, about one third had been regained as of the june payroll report and greater than the peak. in addition, the downturn has not fallen equally on all americans. s in particular, the rise in

joblessness has been particularly -- this has upended many lives and created great uncertainty about the future the pandemic has also level a significant impact on inflation. supply constraints have madded to higher burden more broadly, however, weaker demand, especially sectors such as travel and hospital has held do you think consumer prices and overall inflation is running well below our symmetric 2% objective along with the recent increases have come new challenges after declining gradually from a peak near the end much april, the number of covid-19 cases has increased sharply in many parts of the country since mid june. we have thus entered a new phase in containing the virus.

the path forward is extraordinarily uncertain and will depend in large part in our success in keeping the virus in check. indeed, we have seen some signs in recent weeks that the increase in virus cases and renewed measures to control it are starting to weigh on economic activity. for example, some measures you are of consumer spending based on debit and credit card use, have moved down since late june. while recent labor markets indicators point to a slower job growth a full recovery is unlikely until people are comfort it's says to reengage the path forward will also depend on policy actions to provide relief and support of recovery for as long as needed the federal reserve's response to this crisis has been guided

by our mandate to promote maximum employment and stable prices for the american people, along with our responsibilities to promote the stability of the financial system we are committed to using our full range of tools to support the economy in this challenging time we have held other policy rate near zero and have stated we will keep it there until we are confident that the economy has weathered recent events. we've been purchasing sizable quantities of treasury and agency mortgage-backed securities in order to support quarterly conditions in the market, which are vital to the flow of credit in the economy. to sustained smooth market functioning and foster effective transition to brought are financial conditions, we will continue to increase or holdings of treasury and mortgage-backed securities, at least at the current pace these purchases are also fostering more accommodative

financial conditions the federal reserve has also been taking broad and forceful action, for households, for businesses large and small, and for state and local governments. without access to credit, families could be forced to come back on necessities or even lose their homes. businesses could be forced to downsize or close, resulting in further income losses, worsening the downturn and promoting the recovery many of our programs rely on emergency lending powers that require the support of the treasury department, and are available only in very unusual circumstances, such as though we find ourselves in today. these programs benefit the economy by providing financialing where it is not otherwise available. in addition, by serving as a backstop to key credit markets, the programs after to have significantly increased of

credit from private lenders. we are deploying these lending powers to an unprecedented extent enabled in large park to backing, we will continue to using they powers until we are confident that we are solidly on the road to recovery this week, we extended these programs through the end of the year when the time comes, after the crisis has passed, we will put these emergency tools back in the toolbox. the as i have emphasized before, these are lending powers, not spending powers. the fed cannot grant money to particular beneficiaries we can only create programs or facilities with broad-based eligibility to make loans to solvent entities with the expectation that the loans will be repaid. many borrowers will benefit from these programs, as will the overall economy, but for many others, getting a loan that may be difficult to remay pay not be the answer in these cases, direct fiscal

support may be needed. elected officials have the power to tax and spend and makes decides about we as a society could have our collective resources. the policies thus far have made a critical difference for families, businesses and communities across the country even so, the current economic downturn is the most severe in our lifetimes. it would take a while to get back to the levels of activity and employment that prevail at the beginning of the year and will take continued support to achieve that before taking your questions, i i will provide an update on our framework. as a reminder, west began this with strategy, tools and communication practices first for the federal reserve early last year. our purpose has been to take a comprehensive look on how to

meet best meet the objectives in the years ahead, particular in light of the generally lower level of interest rates around the world. the lower level of interest rates has reduced the scope for the committee to support the economy. our plans to conclude this review were delayed by the pandemic at this meeting, my colleagues and i ruled our discussions. our focus was on possible enhancements to our statement on longer-run goals and monetary policy strategy. while i do not have details to share, we will wrap up our deliberations in the near future we understand that the work of the fed touches communities, families and businesses across the country. everything we do is in service

to our public mission. we are committed to using our full range of tools to support the economy, and to help assure that the recovery from this difficult period will be as robust as possible thank you. i look forward to your questions. >> chair powell, the fed today decided to extend dollar liquidity lines around the word. would you was that important to the fed? and how concerned are you about dollar shortages persisting through the pandemic >> so our dollar swap lines we introduced those back at the beginning of this episode, after the pandemic made itself present. dollar funding markets were in

very difficult shape at the time the introduction of the swap lines has really restored dollar funding markets around the world to fairly normal levels of activity so they kind of serve their purpose, but we -- we extended them, i guess, yesterday morning, to really facilitate planning by orel central banks, just so people will know those facilities are still there we want them to remain in place and be available as long as they are needed and since, you know, the crisis and the economic fallout from the pandemic are far from over, we're going to leave those in place for the time being, and we will leave them in place until we are confident they're no longer needed. there's nothing in the market that raises any concerns we just want them to be there as a backstop for the markets >> steve liesman

>> reporter: steve liesman, cnbc mr. chairman, you said several times now that i have lending, not spending, powers given that a lot of the capacity of these programs have been barely used, do you think some of the money dedicated to the federal reserve should be used as direct grants to businesses that are in need right now, or to households, given that congress is now saying that money is limited and they do not want to pass a very large stimulus bill? is this money doing the best for the nation as a backstop for programs that don't seemed to be used right now i have a follow-up question. >> they appropriated that money

and it's really a question for congress you're right, our facilities -- we haven't done as much lending as we thought, but in substantial measure, that's because markets started working again fartherly soon after he announced the facilities, and also in the short-term funding facilities, the three of those we set up. we didn't turn out to need the kind of funding that we thought we would on the other hand, it's important that the facilities stay in place. it's important they still stay in place until we are very confident that the turmoil from the pandemic and the economic fallout are behind us. so i -- i can't really speak to what congress should do with it, but it's important the facilities be there and fully funded in case the needs do arise. >> reporter: is there any

consideration been given to asking congress -- >> not that i'm aware of, no thank you. next, tim rose. nick, are you there? we'll go to david gurra, nbc.

>> reporter: mr. chairman, thank you very much. no doubt you were paying attention a couple days ago when on capitol hill, and they had to do with the pandemic unemployment benefits and weaver heard a lot it could be a disincentive to work i wonder if you would address that as well, and then as a follow-up, i wonder what you've learned about the way this has led to a widening of the wealth gap some are getting through this based on what they saved. the jobs that they have, others are really struggling to get by. i wonder what additional role the fed could have some bridging that yawning gap >> to your first question, i wouldn't want to be giving detailed specific advice on particular programs and the level they should be at and that kind of thing. i will say the following, this pandemic and its fallout really

represents the biggest shot to the u.s. economy in living memory we went from the lowest levels in employments we had in 50 years to the highest levels in 90 years we did it in the space of two months i would say that the response from the fiscal authorities was strong, it was fast, it was broad, and appropriately so. i think we are seeing the results of the earlier strong fiscal actions when you see the spending that's happening, when you see small businesses staying in business, even though the economy mant fully successfully up remained open sustainably, you're seeing what happens with that money, so in a broad sense, it's been well spent. it's kept people in their homes, and kept businesses in business. that's all a good thing. i think in the broad scheme of things, there will be a need for more support and from more fiscal policy. fiscal policy is up to congress.

you see the ongoing discussion they're having, and it suggests to me that there's a -- you know, that both sides, they're wrangling over various provisions, but nonetheless believe there's a need for some additional fiscal support. the last thing i will say is that if the expansion -- even if the reopening goes well, and many, many people go back to work, it's still going to take a fairly long time for the parts of the economy that involve lots of people getting together in close proximity. that means many of the people who were laid off from those industries, and that's restaurants, you know, bars, hoilett, public entertainment, travel and accommodation, many of those people -- there won't be enough jobs for them. so i think those people will need support i can't say what the exact level

would be, but they are going to need support if they're able to pay their bills, continue spending money, remain in their current rental house, apartment or a house if they own it. i think there will be a need in terms of inequality, really, i think it's fair to say that the burdens of the pandemic have fallen on heavy -- they have fallen on everyone, but they have fallen heavily on people who work in the service industries in relatively low-paying jobs. there was a figure that came out of some of our research, that if you make $40,000 a year or less, then 40% -- ed a 40% chance of losing your job in april or may. it's falling heavily on the people with the least financial wherewithal to bear with that, and that happens to be heavily skewed to minorities and to women. that's just what the pandemic is

doing. you know, in terms of what we are doing, what we are trying to do is create an environment in the financial markets and in the economy, where those people have the best chance they can have to go back to work, to their old job or to a new job. that's really what we're doing everything that we're doing is directed to that you know, i would say one last thing on inequality. inequality is an issue, has been a growing issue in our country and in our economy for four decades, and you see it -- it has many faces, you see it in the relative flattening out of incomes for people in lower and middle incomes, as compare to those at the top you see it in low mobility, where people -- where the chances of moving up from the bottom to the middle or top have declined and are lower than they are in other comparable wealthy companies. it's a serious economic problem for the united states, but it has underlying causes that are

not related to monetary policy, to our response to the pandemic. four decades indicate it's about globalization, about the flattening out of educational attainment, it's about technology advancing, too. if you're on the wrong side of those those sources, your income is stagnant it's a critical, critical problem for a society but one that really falls mainly to fiscal policies and other policies our part is to push as hardas we can on our employment mandate while keeping price stability. we saw what happened to people at the lower end of the income spectrum late in the last expansion. it was the best labor market in 50 years, they told us we saw that the biggest wage increases were going to people at the bottom of the wage spectrum for the last couple of years of that 10 year 8 month expansion. so a tight labor market is probably the best thing that the fed can foster to go after that

problem, which is a serious one. >> chair powell, you have described your objective as stabilizing markets. with markets having stabilized aren't they are doing more address market function by supporting macroeconomic objectives the other question i have is what is your strategy going to be with respect to using purchases to support your macroeconomic objectives going forward? thanks >> you're right. the asset purchases in their current size really sprang from severe dysfunction in the treasury and mbs markets, market reaction to the pandemic thanks to those purchases we have substantially referred -- not fully, substantially

restored functioning markets that is part of the absolute bedrock of the global financial markets and it's essential it work well and it is doing so now. we've always said we understand, accept and are fine with the fact those purchases are also fost fostering a more economic policy which would support macroeconomic outcomes it's doing both. we've understood that for some time the programs aren't structured like qe programs like the last financial crisis. those were focused on buying longer run securities, current purchases across maturity spectrum nonetheless they are supporting financial conditions i think that's clearly the case. in terms of our strategy, that remains to be seen as you know, we've spent a lot

of time in meetings this year looking at the tools we have to adjust our current stance of policy we do feel that our current monetary stance is the appropriate one. you know, we cut rates close to zero right at the beginning. we ramped up asset purchases those have really helped we gave forward guidance on both those things which the markets appear to understand and market pricing is consistent. we think that our policy stance is a good one. we're, of course, prepared to adjust that stance as appropriate and we deemed appropriate to better foster achievement of our goals, of course >> okay. gina. >> thank you for taking my question you talk to larry fink at blackrock in march, april, and may. i was wondering if you could tell us a little about what you talked about and if the topic of

the conversation was facilities, how do you handle conflicts of interest during those conversations? >> so blackrock is just our agent. we make the policy decisions in conjunction with our colleagues and they just execute our plans. i actually don't remember exactly what i would have been talking with him about he's the head of a major service provider he generally checks in to find out whether we're okay with the quality of the service that blackrock is providing i don't have daily face-to-face with black roc three phone calls in the course of a few months. it wasn't very many. i think their conflicts are managed extremely carefully in the contracts we have with them. again, i can't recall exactly what those conversations were. it would have been about what

he's seeing in the market, generally exchanging information. he's typically trying to make sure we are getting good service from the company he founded and leads. i would say that's his main objective when we talk. >> okay, thank you we'll go to scott horsely. >> thank you, mr. chairman scott horsely from npr i wonder if you can give us an update on the coin shortage that you talked to lawmakers about last month what, if anything, that tells us about the sort of economic circulatory system. >> so the situation with coins is the quantity of coins is going up, but was adequate before the pandemic. the problem is the circulation kind of stopped because tors were closed, banks were closed,

customers weren't spending the coins stopped moving in the system so we've been working every since that began to happen -- we saw it happening right away. we've been working to try to reverse that disruption of the supply chain and restore normal circulation with our coins we're working with u.s. mint, issuing authority, to address the issue. just last week the mint, as you may have seen, issued the statement asking for the public's health keeping coins circulating and various people put their coins back in circulation. we created a coin task force with all the stakeholders, banks and the armored carriers, banking community, credit unions, everybody in the coin supply chain we're in frequent communication with the banks and with the armored carriers trying to get back to where we need to be. so we do think the inventories

are building up. the mint is making coins as fast as they can but things happen in the factory environment. someone will come to work with covid. i think this has happened in every factory around the country. then they will shut down for a day and come back and that kind of thing so we're closely monitoring it it's a significant issue we've got a lot of resources on it we do feel like we're making progress. >> okay, thank you rach rachel. >> thank you for taking my question i'm wondering if you can be a bit more specific about any risks that you see related to a double dip recession or signs that the recovery was stalling or maybe beginning to stall compared to some of the signs we were seeing earlier in the mer thanks very much >> yeah. so maybe i'll talk more broadly about the outlook and include your question in it.

so as i mentioned, economic activity and employment picked up beginning in may and right through june and remain well below their levels because i'd say job gains have reversed about a third of the job losses from march and april and consumer spending has reversed about a half of the drop but nonetheless, those were sooner and stronger than we expected so what happened then was along with that positive data we got, we got the virus increases starting in the middle of june in lots and lots of states around the country it brings us to a new point here, which is we need to -- in addition to dealing with the health crisis, we have to remember this is a health crisis and these are people who are having the coronavirus and it's taking a terrible toll so we've got to deal with economic ramifications of that what we're seeing is we monitor

quite a lot of what we think of as sort of nonstandard high frequency data that's become a very important thing. even more important than usual in the work that we do what that data shows on balance is that the pace of the recovery looks like it has slowed since the cases began, that's a spike in june. some measures of consumer spending credit card and debit card have moved down recent indicators point to slowing in job growth particularly among businesses. hotel occupancy rates are going out. restaurants, gas stations, bars, beauty salons as much. consumer surveys, by the way, dropped sharply when the pandemic arrived and moved back up sharply they look like they may be softening again now. there's still some areas of strength housing and motor vehicle sales have still been strong nonetheless on balance, it looks like the data pointing to

slowing in the pace of the recovery i want to stress, it's too early to say both how large that is and how sustained it will be we just don't know yet because we have to wait to see the actual data on spending and employment come in this is what we're seeing. of course, we're monitoring it very carefully i would be remiss in not stressing this enough the path of the economy is going to depend to an extent on the virus, the measures we take to keep it in check that is a very fundamental fact about our economy right now. the two things are not in conflict social distancing measures and fast reopening of the economy actually go together they are not in competition with each other >> thank you >> hi. just to follow up on