ATLANTA — It was only 16 days ago when the Federal Reserve raised interest rates and its chairman, Jerome Powell, conveyed that he was fundamentally confident about the outlook for the United States economy.

To markets, he came across as excessively dismissive of the message that turbulent stock, bond and commodity prices were sending. His comments were interpreted as implying the Fed was dead-set on pushing interest rates higher to prevent some hypothetical future inflation, consequences be damned.

It’s clear that a jaw-dropping series of market swings, combined with some hints that a broader economic slowdown could be on the way, have made Mr. Powell rethink things.

Two weeks ago, the consensus of Mr. Powell’s Fed colleagues was that two more interest rate increases were likely this year. In his message Friday, in a panel I moderated at the American Economic Association, he decidedly did not reaffirm that projection. Instead, his emphasis was on flexibility, adaptability and open-mindedness.