Jerome Powell: “Chances of a recession were extremely low — if you go back two months. It has moved up, but it's not high.”

I won’t bow to political pressure when it comes to setting monetary policy.

So we didn't overreact — in fact, we didn't react at all. We're simply taking some time.

Job growth, he said, has slowed considerably and that the downside risks to employment are rising.

The U.S. economy is in solid shape.