Hi, electric bills can mean profits for somebody.

I'm David Brancaccio in Los Angeles.

First, the person who is arguably the most influential single economic policymaker in the world,

Jerome Powell, is in a Senate hearing room today.

Yesterday, he told a House committee he's watching President Trump's tariffs percolate more into the economy before deciding if interest rates need to ease off.

Marketplaces Nancy Marshall-Genzor reports.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell was asked repeatedly yesterday.

When's the Fed going to cut interest rates?

Some members of the House Financial Services Committee asked if it could be as soon as next month.

Powell was non-committal, repeatedly saying the Fed needed to be cautious because President

Trump's tariffs could ignite inflation.

Tariffs take a while to work their way through the distribution chain several months.

And I would say we would expect to see meaningful effects, you know, kind of June, July, August.

And if we don't, you know, we'll be learning something.

And that lesson could cause the Fed to lower borrowing costs.

Powell says the Fed will also be watching the unemployment rate,

and if it creeps up, that could lead to lower interest rates.

But in the meantime, Powell said the Fed is well positioned to wait to learn more about the likely course of the economy.

I'm Nancy Marshall Genser for Marketplace.

Two sounds across a big piece of the country this morning, the air conditioning grinding away and the ticking up of your electric bill with

hotter temperatures and online commerce and AI-driven data centers drawing so much power.

Investors are putting money into the power industry. The International Energy Agency forecast

...