- Growth in economic activity has slowed substantially
- Given how far we’ve come, and given uncertainties, we are proceeding carefully
- Inflation has eased with a significant rise in unemployment
- Labor demand still exceeds supply, but gap has narrowed
- Wage growth appears to be easing
- Activity in housing sector has flattened out
- Higher interest rates also weighing on business fixed investment
- Lower inflation readings are welcome but we will need to see further evidence
- We anticipate that the process of getting inflation all the way to 2% will take time
- We’re highly attentive to the risks that high inflation poses to both sides of our mandate
- We believe that we’re at or near peak rates in this cycle
- We are prepared to tighten further if appropriate
- Will keep policy restrictive until confident on path to 2% inflation
- Officials don’t want to keep possibility of hikes off the table
There’s no strong pushback here to the market’s reaction or pricing and he’s validated that the Fed thinks they’re likely at the peak.
Here’s the Fed’s inflation target.
This article was written by Adam Button at www.forexlive.com. Source