NY Fed's Williams: Rate Path Driven By Developments In Economy

NY Fed President Williams ends FT discussion. A few further comments:

• On Judy Shelton's nomination for the Fed board (Senate votes on her next week): The decision about who to appoint is the President's / Senate's call, don't have any comments on that.* On Fed's new forward guidance: Not a date-based based commitment; driven by economic developments. Given your view on the economy, what's the appropriate path for monetary policy.
• On Fed's avg inflation targeting: 'Not a mathematical formula', about having well-anchored inflation expectations at 2%. Not a complicated model, a simple principle.
• On climate change policy: It's an important risk to financial stability; Fed's already discussing climate change risks with banks.
• On post-election fiscal stimulus, and what the Fed's assumptions are: The lesson of the last 9 months is scenario analysis and understanding how different fiscal actions affect the econ outlook and the Fed's policy choices. Not going to give advice on what Congress etc should do; my view is that we're still in an extraordinary period with COVID. Previous fiscal stimulus made a huge difference in boosting consumer spending through the pandemic.