 Another week of trading is over at the New York Stock Exchange. It was a tumultuous day for the market. The Dow closed down roughly 1,000 points following a massive sell-off. The S&P 500 and the Tech Heavy Nasdaq suffered losses as well. Both indexes fell more than 3 percent. Investors are of course reacting to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell's remarks at an economic conference in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. He signaled the Fed would likely continue to raise interest rates. Melissa Armo joins us now. She is owner and founder of the Stock Shrews. Now, Melissa, thanks for joining us. Jerome Powell acknowledges that fighting inflation is going to cause some economic pain to American families. So what's your reaction to his remarks today? Did anything surprise you? I think the market was very surprised because there was a possibility. I think people thought that maybe they would only bump rates up maybe a half a percent in the next quarter. And as it seems, his statements today were very, very strong that they're going to do everything they can in order to curb inflation, even if it means raising rates all the way up to 4 percent, which essentially for consumers would mean, just for an example, today's 30-year mortgage rate is around 6.8. So if they continue to raise rates where the federal funds rate is at 4, mortgage rates could be 8.5 percent for people within the next 6 to 12 months. And that will be shocking to people. I mean, some people who are adults that are working people, paying bills right now, have never seen interest rates like this. Well, as economists debate whether we are already in a recession or just close to one, if the Fed does raise interest rates in September, are you concerned about a sustained economic downturn in the near future? I definitely think that it's going to halt some of the economic growth. He also, Fed Chairman Powell, also mentioned that today. He said, be prepared, the economy is slowed down. Again, the Fed's job is to control inflation and also look at unemployment. Well, unemployment has been low. Remember, there's more jobs out there right now than we have people to fulfill them. I don't understand why anyone thinks it would be good to have lower productivity, but apparently the Fed thinks this is the only way to get a handle on inflation. Personally, I think it's going to make the problem worse. What happened really is we kept interest rates too low for too long. Now they're going to go the opposite direction and go too far and raise them too fast, too quickly. I think they should temper it a bit, slow it down, maybe a quarter or a half a bump between now and the end of the year. Instead, if they raise at 75 basis points or even a point, again, it could push into a problem where people are going to have a problem paying their bills. People are not going to go out and refinance. People are not going to buy homes. Again, all of these things affect the economy. He's preparing basically in the statement today, he prepared for the fact that companies may need to lay people off. We may have a problem where we don't have as many job openings. That's actually not good for businesses. We don't want people to be laid off. We don't want people to pay more for stuff. Part of the reason we have high cost for things is really down to one thing. And one thing only, it's the cost of diesel fuel, oil. Everything that we buy gets to us in trucks and cars. And so food prices are up because the cost of fuel is up. And until we get the cost of fuel down, they can raise interest rates to 10% if they want. It's not going to stop the cost of inflation of all these things that we buy on a regular basis, and particularly the gas that we used to get around every day. Well, you talk about fuel costs. Powell also said that he wants to bring inflation down to 2% in the long term. Is that a realistic goal in your opinion? And if so, how long is it going to take for us to get there? Sure, it's a realistic go long term. I mean, it could be three to five years. Three to five years is a long time for people that need jobs, need to pay their bills. And remember, we're coming out of COVID. We're coming out of this terrible time. People want to get out. People want to do things. People do want to spend money. People need to go to work. We don't want to overpay for stuff. And you don't want people living paycheck to paycheck. So sure, that's a great goal. It's a fabulous goal. But again, he's trying to get there too quick, too fast. It's not necessary. We could be hurting the problem and hurting the economy even more so when we are ready to hurt the economy, when we shut it down in 2020 because of COVID. Let things just get back to normal a little bit. They're so worried about preventing a recession. Of course, some people say we are in one. I don't think it matters if people say we're in one or we're in one or we're not in one. Everybody knows if you go to the store, you know and you see what you're paying for stuff right now. And it looks like things could potentially cost more. And I think that that's problematic. And I think that, again, five years out is great. The next presidential election is 2024. Things always turn around when you have a new person in the White House unless, of course, Biden runs again, which is an unknown factor. That's a long time right now, though, for everyday people. It's just too far off. His goal is realistic, but he's trying to get there in 12 months by the end of 2023. And I think that's crazy. All right, Melissa Armo. Thanks for joining us. Many Instagram users are concerned about their privacy after an I-