Fed Thomas Barkin
  • It will be hard to figure out in the economy without data
  • Credit card data is a good alternative data set
  • I try to talk to businesses and workers what's happening in the economy
  • Growth still seems 'solid' in the economy
  • It makes sense that lower and middle-income spending is adjusting to a slower pace
  • Growth will moderate from earlier this year
  • The data on consumer spending in the past few months has been 'extraordinary' but he expects it to slow
  • I've heard that the middle income consumer is starting to 're-prioritize' spending
  • I'm expecting the next quarter to be 'solid' no 'robust'
  • Pace of growth in Q1/Q2 is unlikely to continue
  • I think we will see demand softening
  • It's very difficult to imagine inflation settling with growth above trend
  • We've unleashed people's ability to use price as a lever
  • We're still seeing wage pressure in the skilled trades
  • The last five months of inflation data have been encouraging

Barkin is a good indication of the core of the Fed and he clearly wants to see more data and is no rush to adjust the Fed's stance.