U.S. Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell said talk of cutting interest rates was premature, squashing market expectations.

Speaking at Spelman College in Atlanta, Powell said it was too early to say confidently that the Fed had achieved a sufficiently restrictive stance or to speculate on when rate cuts would happen.

He also warned that the Fed is prepared to tighten monetary policy if it believed this to be the right thing to do.

Powell’s comments appear to repeat his position stated at a press conference early last month following the Fed's decision to freeze rates at five-point-25 to five-point-five percent.

Market experts have been predicting that the Fed will begin cutting rates in the first half of next year to prevent an economic hard-landing.