Is the following statement always, never, or sometimes true?

Question

A number raised to a negative exponent is negative.

always
never**
sometimes

Answer 1

4^-2 = 1/4^2 = 1/16 <----- positive
(-4)^-2 = 1/(-4)^2 = 1/16 <------ positive
(-4)^-3 = 1/(-4)^3 = 1/-64 <----- negative

mhhhh ?

Answer 2

So the answer is sometimes right?