Fed Officials Willing to Raise Rates, But Only If Convinced Inflation Not Receding
– Key Inflation, Other Data Eagerly Awaited Before Some Make Up Their Minds By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – With barely two weeks to go before Federal Reserve policymakers gather to take fresh stock of the economy and reconsider their short-term interest rate settings, Fed officials are letting it be known they are willing to […]
Fed’s Warsh Issues Strong Warnings About Inflation at Fed’s Jackson Hole Symposium
– Warns Expectations Could Become Unanchored if Inflation Stays Elevated – Reaffirms that the Fed’s Job Is To ‘Deliver Stable Prices’ – Sees Labor Markets, Economy Performing Strongly Without Financial Restraint – Says Inflation ‘Has Not Meaningfully improved’ – Again Rejects ‘Forward Guidance’ Or Revealing Fed ‘Reaction Function’ By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – Although […]
Japan Week Ahead: July Data to Show Mixed Start to Q3 after BOJ Deputy Governor Himino Downplays Weak Q2 GDP Growth, Keeps September Rate Hike Talk Alive
–July Factory Output to Show Pullback After Recent Gains, Heat Wave Props Up Retail Sales, Sluggish Household Spending Continues amid High Costs By Max Sato (MaceNews) – Financial markets have largely priced in a follow-up interest rate hike by the Bank of Japan in September, with only a three-month interval instead of an earlier expectation […]
Fed’s Collins: ‘Appropriate to Tighten Policy Soon’ If Inflation Doesn’t Recede
By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Susan Collins is willing to support an increase in short-term interest rates if forthcoming reports on inflation don’t show it coming down as she hopes, comments released by the bank Tuesday reveal. Without evidence of moderating inflation, she believes “it will be appropriate to […]
Japan Week Ahead: Markets Seek Hints from BOJ Deputy Governor Himino’s Speech on Board Concerns About Upside Inflation Risks amid Weak Q2 GDP Growth
By Max Sato (MaceNews) – Market participants are looking for any clues to whether the Bank of Japan board is getting closer to raising interest rates further in September, instead of waiting until October, when the board updates its economic projections and risk analysis in the quarterly Outlook Report. BOJ Governor Kazuo Ueda clearly indicated […]
Fed Officials Proceed Cautiously Ahead of September FOMC Meeting, Jackson Hole
By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – Federal Reserve officials generally agree on the need to lower inflation, but they take divergent positions on what path monetary policy needs to take in the near term to achieve that, and on how quickly the Fed needs to take action. There was considerable support for higher interest rates […]
Japan Week Ahead: Inflationary Pressures Growing amid Weak Yen, Measured BOJ Tightening Pace, Prompting Some Economists to Point to an Early September Rate Hike
By Max Sato (MaceNews) – Upward pressures on both producer and consumer prices are mounting in Japan when only about five years ago policymakers dreamt about seeing the annual inflation rate overshoot the Bank of Japan’s 2% target from around zero. When BOJ board members left the policy interest rate unchanged at 1% at the […]
Fed Officials United On Need To Reduce Inflation; Differ on How, When
– Some Ready To Tighten; Others Hoping for More Disinflation Evidence – Alternative Policy Scenarios for Curbing Inflation Being Assessed By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – The week after a hotly debated Federal Open Market Committee decision to hold short-term interest rates steady has brought comments from multiple Federal Reserve officials suggesting that the Fed’s […]
3 Fed District Presidents Argue FOMC Needed to Raise Rates Now to Bring Down Inflation
– Modest Tightening Now Would Avoid Having to Move Aggressively Later, Kashjari and Logan Argue By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – The three Federal Reserve bank presidents who voted against the Federal Open Market Committee’s Wednesday decision to leave short-term interest rates unchanged defended their actions Friday. The three dissenters — Cleveland’s Beth Hammack, Minneapolis’s […]
Divided FOMC Holds Rates Steady but Warsh Says That’s Not The End of the Story’
– Warsh Welcomes Rising Bond Yields as Aiding Fed Inflation Fight – Warsh Downplays Dissents; Says Committee United on ‘Delivering’ 2% Inflation By Steven K. Beckner (MaceNews) – The Federal Reserve’s policymaking Federal Open Market Committee left short-term interest rates unchanged Wednesday for the fifth straight meeting, but the Fed’s rate-setting body was sharply divided, […]