Fed's Powell says markets orderly, downplays intervention risk

April 16 (Reuters) - Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell suggested on Wednesday hopes the central bank will step in to tamp down on market volatility are likely misplaced.

"What I think is going on in markets is markets are processing what's going on, markets are struggling with a lot of uncertainty and that means volatility," Powell said in an appearance in Chicago.

Despite the tumult, "markets are functioning conditional on being in such a challenging situation, markets are doing what they're supposed to do, they're orderly and they're functioning just about as you would expect them to function" given the uncertainty.