Clarida: Tapering And IOER Hike Can Wait

A few of the more salient comments by Vice Chair Clarida in post-speech Q&A:

• On Fed tapering: "It will be quite some time before we begin tapering our purchases", and says he expects the current buying pace to be maintained through 2021.
• On adjusting purchase maturity: Says there is no need now or in the near-term to adjust the duration of Tsy purchases. Notes he's not concerned by a 10-Yr Tsy yield above 1.0% - earlier he noted we are still in a regime of "incredibly low" bond yields.
• On IOER: Says he does not see a rise in interest paid on excess reserves on the near-term horizon, and more interestingly says that he does not perceive a need to do that before wider rate liftoff. Note the Fed SEP median is not pencilling in a hike through 2023.
• On today's jobs report: Clarida says that while the headline number was "disappointing", losses were concentrated in COVID lockdown-sensitive hospitality sectors, and he does not expect that jobs pattern to persist into 2021. This echoes comments from Powell and others on some sectors doing better than others in the pandemic, pointing to fiscal/gov't policy being more effective than mon pol in addressing.
• On fiscal policy: Says that he has not yet analyzed the potential for more stimulus after the Georgia Senate outcome (making it easier for the Democrats to pass a fiscal package).