Fed’s Collins says FOMC is at or near the peak of the rate hike cycle

Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Susan Collins gives 2023 Goldman Lecture in Economics, “Reflections on Policymaking Amidst (Pandemic) Uncertainty”.

Headlines via Reuters:

  • Fed is at or near peak of rate hike cycle
  • Further rate hike
    could be warranted depending on incoming data
  • Expects Fed to keep
    policy restrictive for some time
  • Policy must stay
    restrictive until clear sign inflation moves to target of 2%
  • Optimistic
    inflation can be tamed with ‘orderly slowdown,’ small jobless
    rise
  • Policy patience will
    give fed time to get read on economy
  • Main uncertainty is
    measuring impact of past fed actions
  • Fed faces challenges
    in extracting signal from economic data
  • Cooler core
    inflation will need softer labor market
  • Too soon to say core
    inflation on trend for 2%
  • Chance of a soft
    landing has gotten higher for economy
  • As savings dwindle,
    economy becoming more responsive to rate policy

I would have though some of these officials would be a little more circumspect given we get the latest CPI reading later on Thursday. Especially after the blow out PPI:

And then …

Is there a little bit of sleepwalking going on? I don’t want to be a curmudgeon but 2.2% vs. 1.6% and stocks continue merrily higher?

O

K

then …

This article was written by Eamonn Sheridan at www.forexlive.com. Source