Chair Jerome Powell says the Federal Reserve will likely cut its key interest rate slowly and deliberately in the coming months, in part because inflation has shown signs of persistence and the Fed’s officials want to see where it heads next.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Thursday that interest rates are still expected to decline further, but suggested they might not be that much lower over the next few months.

Related: Despite interest rate cuts, mortgage rates rise for home buyers So it's happened this week. Both the Consumer Price Index and Producer Price Index reports showed small increases when many investors and economic experts were expecting flat results or declines.