MNI BRIEF: Fed's Bostic Not Expecting Clarity For A While
MNI (WASHINGTON) - Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic on Thursday said policy uncertainty emanating from Washington on a variety of fronts only emphasizes that the Fed is on the sidelines until the effects on the economy and the outlook are more clear.
"If I was waiting before to see and get a clear signal about where the economy is going to go, I'm definitely waiting now, because the directionality is very much up in the air," he said in Q&A at an event in Birmingham, Alabama, listing off uncertainties on a variety of policy fronts from DOGE, tariffs, energy, taxes, fiscal and other areas.
"The question is how is this all sorted out, and what's the sequence of things that get rolled out? What are the responses? And then how does it all add up? I'm not anticipating that we will have a clear answer of this or about this for a while. I'd surprised if you got a lot of clarity before the late spring into summer," he said.
"Just this week, we've seen pretty wild swings in terms of where policy is going to land," Bostic added. Whether tariffs translates to higher inflation is an open question: "It depends on how the tariffs are deployed." (See: MNI INTERVIEW: Fed To Focus On Growth Drag From Tariffs - Sahm)