Fed plans to raise rates as soon as March to cool inflation
FT-02 Senator A.F.E. 🇵🇸🤝🇺🇸🤝🇺🇦:
I feel it's kinda funny that I watched Powell deliver his address during my Con. Ed. class. My only advice to Powell is you've got to pump it up! ;)
Quote
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve signaled Wednesday that it plans to begin raising its benchmark interest rate as soon as March, a key step in reversing its pandemic-era low-rate policies that have fueled hiring and growth but also escalated inflation.
With high inflation squeezing consumers and businesses and unemployment falling steadily, the Fed also said it would phase out its monthly bond purchases, which have been intended to lower longer-term rates, in March.
The central bank’s actions are sure to make a wide range of borrowing — from mortgages and credit cards to auto loans and corporate credit — costlier over time. Those higher borrowing costs, in turn, could slow consumer spending and hiring. The gravest risk is that the Fed’s abandonment of low rates could trigger another recession.
In a statement issued after its latest policy meeting, the Fed it “expects it will soon be appropriate” to raise rates.
Though the statement didn’t specifically mention March, half the Fed’s policymakers have expressed a willingness to raise rates by then, including some members who have long favored low rates to support hiring.
By raising rates, the Fed will be betting that it can slow inflation without weakening the economy too much. Speaking at a news conference, Chair Jerome Powell expressed his view, as he has before, that controlling inflation is itself vital to a strong job market.
“The best thing we can do to support continued labor market gains,” Powell said, “is to promote a long expansion, and that will require price stability.”
“I think there’s quite a bit of room,” he added, “to raise interest rates without threatening the labor market. This is by so many measures an historically tight labor market.”
https://apnews.com/article/federal-reserve-interest-rates-inflation-1dd9283e46162b3c0d29a2c55a2934d1
RI:
Long overdue.
jaichind:
YoY Inflation for Jan 2022 came in at 7.5% vs expected 7.3%, highest since 1982. Money markets are betting on one percentage point of Federal Reserve rate hikes by July. The equity and bond markets pricing will factor this in as part of today's trading activity.
Also, there are some signs that medical and medical insurance costs that were growing fairly slowly in 2021 after a 2020 surge are moving upward again at a faster pace.
Benjamin Frank:
Quote from: Averroës Nix on February 08, 2022, 08:29:26 PM
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MMT (Chartalism) is the flip side of the notion that 'tax cuts pay for themselves.'
jaichind:
PPI yoy up 9.7% vs an estimate of 9.1%. Upstream price pressure remain high.
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