Next Wednesday’s meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee will result in the central bank hiking its policy rate by 25 basis points to a range of between 0.25% and 0.5%. … READ MORE >
Federal Reserve
U.S. January consumer price index: Inflation continues to surge
The top-line increase of 0.6% in January and 7.5% on a year-ago basis will intensify market speculation about a 50 basis-point hike at the March meeting. … READ MORE >
The Real Economy, Volume 86: How the Fed is managing its dual mandate
In this month’s issue of The Real Economy, our chief economist, Joe Brusuelas, examines how the Fed, with inflation on the rise, is trying to strike a balance between maintaining price stability and full employment. … READ MORE >
Acceleration of wage increases raises caution flag for policymakers
The wage component of the index has now accelerated from a 2.5% rate of increase in the third quarter of 2020 to 4.2% a year later and, most recently, to 4.5% in the fourth quarter last year on an annualized basis. … READ MORE >
Monetary and fiscal policy in a changing economy: Reflation, and the risks that remain
The last in a series of articles regarding monetary and fiscal policy as the economy restarts within a changing framework of labor force choices, automation and pricing. … READ MORE >
Chart of the day: Consumer confidence falls amid omicron fears
The consumer confidence index inched down to 67.2 in January from 70.6 in December as concerns over the omicron variant’s surge weighed on consumers both now and in the future. … READ MORE >
Key gauges of prices and labor rise, affirming likelihood of rate hikes
Two of the Federal Reserve’s closely watched gauges for prices and labor costs released on Friday reaffirmed expectations that the central bank will begin raising interest rates in March as the Fed moves to tame inflation. … READ MORE >
U.S. GDP increases 6.9% in fourth quarter
The American economy closed out last year on an upbeat note, finishing with a 6.9% growth rate in the fourth quarter on a seasonally adjusted annualized pace, the fastest pace since the 7.2% rate in 1984. … READ MORE >
Fed to use conventional and unconventional tools to obtain price stability
The Federal Reserve on Wednesday signaled that it intends to use both conventional and unconventional tools to address risks to the economic outlook caused by inflation. … READ MORE >
FOMC preview: Shaping expectations for a major policy shift
Expect the FOMC to lay the groundwork for a major policy shift that includes a rate hike in March, another in June, and a balance sheet runoff likely to start in June or July. … READ MORE >