St Louis Fed President James Bullard on Thursday said that he would like to see the Federal Funds rate hit 3.5% in the second half of 2022, reported Reuters. Bullard said he would “lean into” a 50 bps rate hike at the May meeting, though he is watching the data. …
Read More »FOMC Minutes: Fed To Move Policy Towards Neutral Expeditiously
According to the minutes of the March FOMC meeting, participants judged that it would be appropriate to move the stance of monetary policy towards a neutral posture expeditiously, reported Reuters. Balance Sheet Reduction“On balance sheet reduction, participants generally agreed monthly caps of about $60B for Treasury securities, $35B for mortgage-backed …
Read More »Fed’s Daly: Can start balance sheet reduction as early as May meeting
San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly explained that the labour market is extremely tight while the Fed is on a path to raising interest rates. She added inflation is as harmful as not having a job while many of the imbalances we see are covid-related. Key Quotes:”I don’t expect a …
Read More »Brainard: Fed Prepared to take stronger action if inflation expectations require it
Fed Vice Chairwoman Lael Brainard said on Tuesday that the Fed is prepared to take stronger action if the inflation outlook and inflation expectations indicators suggest the need for such action. Brainard expects methodical interest rate increases and rapid reductions to the Fed’s balance sheet to bring U.S. monetary policy …
Read More »Fed: To Discuss Balance sheet announcement at FOMC Meeting In May
The release of the Federal Reserve’s latest FOMC meeting minutes on Wednesday will be a key event this week. At that meeting, the central bank raised interest rates as expected. Wells Fargo pointed out the importance of the additional information that will contain the minutes regarding the balance sheet runoff. …
Read More »Fed’s Evans: Can start balance sheet reduction and raise rates at the same meeting
Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said on Thursday that the Fed can begin its balance sheet reduction and raise interest rates in the same meeting, reported Reuters.The risk of slowing the economy into recession isn’t high, Evans said. The Fed won’t need asset sales until it is well into its …
Read More »Powell: US Economy Very Strong, Labour Markets Extremely Tight, Inflation Above Goal
Fed Chair Jerome Powell said in his post-FOMC meeting press conference on Wednesday that the US economy is very strong and the Fed thus expects to reduce the size of its balance sheet. The slowdown from Omicron was mild and brief, Powell added, noting that labour markets are extremely tight …
Read More »How Important Is Fed’s First Rate Hike Since 2018 To Future of US Economy?
The Federal Reserve has just raised its benchmark interest rate for the first time since 2018, but it is already time for the market to look beyond this move. While there are complicating factors such as the war in Ukraine, the most prominent issue for the Fed is that economic …
Read More »Will FOMC Meeting Be A Tough Call?
The FOMC has an unenviable task of trying to guide monetary policy through a period of turbulence. The March 15-16 meeting will be essential to communicate its present action and set the monetary policy path and tone for the future.Leaning the stance of individual policymakers will matter more than usual …
Read More »Fed Not Expected To Announce Balance Sheet Reductions Next Week
A rate hike by the US Fed next week is broadely expected, even despite the recent turmoil across financial markets. According to analysts at Wells Fargo, the chance of a 50 bps interest rate hike “has fallen tremendously given the souring outlook to growth amid higher commodity prices.”Economists believe it …
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