When Jerome Powell assumed the position of Chair of the Federal Reserve (Fed) in February of 2018, several questions lingered as to how he would guide the venerable institution. Would he be more of a hawk than his predecessor? Would he increase the independence of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)? Would his investment banking background lead him to reduce the FOMC's market interventions in favor of a more "free market" approach? Would he accelerate balance sheet normalization? Would he dispel the notion of the "FED put" in the face of market volatility? Initially, it seemed that the answer to all the above questions was pointing towards, "yes."

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