Speeches, Interviews, Essays

Excerpts below – Full article is available on the St. Louis Fed website. Bullard said “if it was today, I’d go ahead with” a hike of the same magnitude in December, though he added it was “too early to prejudge” what to do at that final meeting of the year. “I do think 2023 should…

No economic news was shared. “By far, the most significant change to the community banking landscape over the past four decades has been the declining number of banks and increased concentration in the banking sector. In 1985, just three years after I began my career with the Kansas City Fed, there were about 15,000 community…

“So that is going to put, by shrinking our balance sheet, that it should be putting some upward pressure on long term interest rates, that complements what we’re doing with our federal funds rates. So we moved up these overnight interest rates and now we’re shrinking our balance sheet, both of those should be putting…

“But I would note with some humility that striking the right balance between creating an enabling environment that supports innovation and managing related risks to businesses, households, and the stability of the financial system is no easy task. When regulations are too prescriptive or regulators too cautious, they run the risk of stifling innovation and…

Inflation & Fed Funds: “At this point, for me, it comes down to what the incoming data and other economic information will tell us about the outlook for inflation. If we do not see signs that inflation is moving down, my view continues to be that sizable increases in the target range for the federal…

“Given the current level of inflation, its broad-based nature, and its persistence, I believe monetary policy will need to become more restrictive in order to put inflation on a sustainable downward path to 2 percent. Given appropriately restrictive financial conditions, my modal outlook is that inflation will move down appreciably next year, to about 3-1/2…

“I see the nominal funds rate rising to a bit above 4-1/2 percent early next year and then remaining at this level for some time while we assess how our policy adjustments are affecting the economy.” “Our rapid pace of rate increases has fast-tracked our arrival to such a restrictive stance. Front-loading was a good…

“The moderation in demand due to monetary policy tightening is only partly realized so far. The transmission of tighter policy is most evident in highly interest-sensitive sectors like housing, where mortgage rates have more than doubled year to date and house price appreciation has fallen sharply over recent months and is on track to soon…

Transcript not yet available – Link to interview is below. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/videos/2022-10-11/mester-federal-reserve-should-stick-to-balance-sheet-runoff-plan

“Well, I think the high inflation environment, it came up pretty quickly. It’s been quite persistent. That’s certainly true, but it started off as a bunch of relative supply price increases. And so auto, motor vehicles went up a lot. So I think that it’s likely that the supply chain issues are working their way…