The chair of the US central bank has dashed the hopes of investors who dream of lower interest rates.

Officials with the Federal Reserve say the battle against inflation is not over, but it is easing.

Policymakers had already raised interest rates six times this year. Each of the last four hikes had been three quarters of a percentage point.

Chair Jerome Powell says, this time, they will raise the rate by half a percentage point. And he suggested they are not done.

Powell said, "It will take substantially more evidence to give confidence that inflation is on a sustained downward path."

Higher rates discourage consumers and businesses from spending and can bring prices down.

Powell has seen inflation slow from over 9 percent, down this week to 7.1.

He says price stability serves as the "bedrock" of the economy. And he and his colleagues project reducing inflation will require a period of slower growth.

But Powell says what they're seeing does not qualify as a recession.