Are Fed Hikes in Trouble?

Fed dove Brainard pushes back against rate hikes

  • Says inflation well short of objective
  • Says should be cautious on rate hikes given long period of low inflation
  • Seems 1.4% PCE inflation is too low to hike for some Fed officials
  • Made all the worse by Friday’s wages disappointment
  • The pro-hikes crowd has some heavy lifting to do
  • More Important Than Ever to Get to 2% Inflation Target
  • Fed governor Lael Brainard points out in remarks in New York that the Federal Reserve’s moves to shrink its balance sheet “relatively soon” may put downward pressure on the so-called neutral rate of interest, by boosting the level of the term premium on the 10-year Treasury yield by an estimated 40 basis points or so over the first few years.

    “Typical rules of thumb suggest that such an increase in term premiums would imply a decrease in the short-run neutral rate of interest,” she notes. “To the extent that the neutral rate remains low relative to its historical value, there is a high premium on guiding inflation back up to target so as to retain space to buffer adverse shocks with conventional policy,” she says.

    Remarks courtesy of DowJones News

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    Dean Popplewell

    Dean Popplewell

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