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Chair Powell Quickly Turns To inflation

FED
  • Powell quickly turns to inflation:
  • "Without price stability, the economy does not work for any one".
  • Says the recent strong consumer spending data may have been impacted by swings in weather across the turn of the year.
  • Housing sector activity remains weak. Business fixed investment weighed down by higher rates and slower output.
  • FOMC expects subdued growth to continue (describes SEP forecasts). Nearly all participants see risks to growth to the downside.
  • But labor market remains "extremely tight". Wage growth "has shown some signs of easing". But "labor demand substantially exceeds the supply of available workers." Participants expect supply and demand to come into better balance over time, easing wage pressures.
  • Inflation remains "well above our longer-run goal". "Inflation has moderated somewhat since the middle of last year, but the strength of these recent readings indicates that inflation pressures continue to run high."
  • The process of getting inflation back to 2% "has a long way to go and is likely to be bumpy". But longer-term expectations appear well-anchored.

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