The people who set interest rates are under pressure to deal with the cost of housing.

I'm David Brancaccio. Good morning to you. The Federal Reserve is expected to lower interest rates sometime in 2024, but that did not happen at yesterday's Fed

meeting and later at his briefing Fed Chair Jerome Powell said do not expect

that to happen in March either marketplaces Nancy Marshall Genser reports.

The Fed has been raising interest rates to make it more expensive to borrow and buy a house or a car.

The idea is to slow the economy and tame inflation and inflation is moderating,

but Fed Chair Jerome Powell says Fed officials want to see more progress before they actually cut rates,

progress on the price of things like rent.

Palsi some good news in expected rent prices known as market rents.

Market rents are increasing at a much lower rate or even being flat and that that will show up in

inflation over time it has to as long as that remains the case.

Earlier this week four Senate Democrats sent Powell a letter asking the Fed to, quote,

reverse the troubling rate hikes that have put affordable housing out of reach.

Powell's response, the job Congress gave the Fed part of its mandate is vanquishing inflation with higher interest rates.

Price stability is absolutely essential for people's lives, most importantly, for, not most importantly most mostly for people at the lower

end of the income spectrum who are living at the edges at the margins.

Powell says Fed officials need to see more inflation data before lowering rates and they probably won't have enough information to cut the cost of borrowing at their March meeting.

I'm Nancy Marshall Genser for Marketplace.

Also today the European Central Bank held interest rates steady in the Eurozone.

There's also news this morning that we're getting more work done in the US by working better not

longer productivity rose 3.7% in the October to December quarter of last year.

On Thursdays we get a house call, presuming you're listening at home, from Diane Swank, the chief

...