Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome Powell answers a question during a press conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee on interest rate policy in Washington, U.S., November 1, 2023. At a separate event on Wednesday, European Central Bank chief economist Philip Lane said his bank needs to see further progress in dampening inflationary pressure, and companies along with governments need to chip in to prevent more policy tightening. "A decrease in the policy rate is not something that is likely to happen in the short term," he said. The approval paves the way for a powerful rival to blockbuster drug Wegovy in addressing record obesity rates. Ping An subsequently said in a statement to Reuters it had "not been asked by (the) Government to take over Country Garden".

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Persons: Jerome Powell, Kevin Lamarque, Ankur Banerjee, Powell, Philip Lane, Patrick Harker, Huw Pill, Eli Lilly's, Ping, Merck KGaA, BOE, Christopher Cushing Organizations: Federal, Committee, REUTERS, Ankur, U.S, European Central Bank, . Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, Bank of England, Investors, Novo Nordisk, Reuters, Ping An Insurance, Government, HK, AstraZeneca, Merck, Deutsche Telekom Speakers, Thomson Locations: Washington , U.S, Asia, Guangdong, Ping, Singapore