WASHINGTON U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Wednesday that Fed staff are no longer forecasting a U.S. recession, and "we do have a shot" for inflation to return to target without high levels of job losses.

Powell told a news conference after the Fed's latest interest-rate hike that there was "a lot left to go to" see such a soft landing.

"So the staff now has a noticeable slowdown in growth starting later this year in the forecast, but given the resilience of the economy recently, they are no longer forecasting a recession," he said.

(Reporting by David Lawder; Editing by Leslie Adler)