Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said inflation in December was likely still well above the central bank’s 2% target.

Speaking in his press conference following the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, Powell said the core personal consumption expenditures index was likely at 3% in the final month of the year.

Powell noted, “these elevated readings largely reflect inflation in the goods sector, which has been boosted by the effects of tariffs. In contrast, disinflation appears to be continuing in the services sector.”

Powell declined to say whether he will stay on at the Fed after his term as chair ends, or whether the central bank has responded to subpoenas involving renovation work at the central bank.

When it comes to finishing out a governor’s term that ends in 2028 and extends beyond the end of his chair term in May, Powell said at a press conference that “there's a time and place for these questions" but the matter is "not something I'm going to be getting into today.”

As for the legal investigation, the Fed leader said, “I have nothing for you on that today."

Powell said he attended last week's Supreme Court arguments over President Donald Trump's effort to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook because of the case's importance to the U.S. central bank.

Asked at a news conference why he attended the Supreme Court arguments, Powell said: "I would say that that case is perhaps the most important legal case in the Fed's 113 year history. And I, as I thought about it, I thought it might be hard to explain why I didn't attend it."

Powell added that there was precedence for previous Fed chairs to attend such hearings, noting that Paul Volcker appeared at the Supreme Court in the 1980s, and he believed that it was appropriate for him to do so as well.

Powell said Fed policymakers are not taking much macroeconomic messaging from record-high gold and other precious metals prices and denied that these are a sign that the Fed could be losing its credibility.

Powell said the Fed monitors asset prices, but "we don't get spun up over particular asset price changes."

Asked what message the Fed is taking from gold prices that topped $5,300 an ounce for the first time on Wednesday ahead of the Fed meeting amid dollar weakness, Powell said policymakers "don't take much message macroeconomically," adding that any arguments that the rise is a sign that the Fed is losing credibility are "simply not the case."

"If you look at where inflation expectations are, our credibility is right where it needs to be," Powell added.