Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell is expected to speak around 2:30 p.m. Watch live here.
The Fed is all but sure to keep its key short-term rate — which can influence mortgages and credit cards — below 2.5 percent.
In a visit to a historically black university in the Mississippi Delta, Jerome Powell said that many rural areas have not benefited from the national prosperity. He said those areas need special support.
The dinner marks the first time Trump and Powell have met since Trump picked him for the top Fed job in November 2017.
Fed Chairman Jerome Powell will hold a news conference at 2:30 p.m. ET today. Watch his remarks here.
The Federal Reserve is set Wednesday to leave its key short-term interest rate alone and to signal that it will remain cautious this year about raising rates further.
Threats from volatile stock markets, trade tensions and uncertain global growth made the future path of interest rate hikes "less clear," Federal Reserve officials said during their December meeting.
Powell's comments, made during a panel discussion in Atlanta, were immediately cheered by financial markets, which were already rallying on the basis of a strong unemployment report that showed 312,000 jobs were created in December.
As the Federal Reserve edges closer to ending its rate hikes altogether, its decision-making has become trickier.
The quarter-point hike, to a range of 2.25 percent to 2.5 percent, lifted the Fed's benchmark rate to its highest point since 2008. The increase will mean higher borrowing costs for many consumers and businesses.
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