Fed Chair Powell tests positive for COVID-19, working from home

(Reuters) -Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday and is currently working from home, a Fed spokesperson said in an emailed statement.

“Chair Powell tested positive for COVID-19 late yesterday and is experiencing symptoms.” He is working from home and staying away from others, the statement said, as per guidance from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The announcement follows a trip to Europe this week in which Powell, 71, appeared on Tuesday on stage at an event with Dutch central bank president Klaas Knot in Amsterdam.

Powell last tested positive for Covid in January 2023. There was little reaction in financial markets after the Fed’s announcement of Powell’s latest COVID-19 infection. The next scheduled Fed policy meeting is not until June 11-12.

Powell, who was due to give commencement remarks in person on Sunday at Georgetown Law School, will now deliver them via

prerecorded video, the statement said.

(Reporting by Ann Saphir and Lindsay Dunsmuir, Editing by Franklin Paul and Chizu Nomiyama)