Fed George Esther KC Fed
  • Encourging to see inflation coming down
  • Fed has to be a little more patietn in assesing if inflation on sustainable path
  • We continue to see service sector inflation
  • Inflation sector pressures set to continue
  • I need to see progress on that to have more confidence
  • We are in a good place today
  • Fed facing a very tight labor market
  • ON supply side from the labor market, there are some binding constraints that make it difficult for inflation to come down in a convincing manner
  • Need to see job opening come down
  • Still a lot of money on household balance sheets

Fed's George is not a voting member and is set to retire shortly.

Last night NY Fed Pres. Williams said:

  • Inflation is still to high
  • The Fed still has more work to do to bring inflation down to their goal of 2%
  • Job growth remains strong
  • He expects growth to be moderate in 2023
  • He is not changing his view on rate forecast. WIll be based on data

Meanwhile, while the Fed forecasts 5.13% for the terminal rate, the market forecasts the Fed cutting to 4.43% by year end. That is a 71 basis point difference between the Fed target and what the market is currently pricing in.

Later today Fed's Chris Waller will be speaking at 1 PM. He is probably the last Fed official to speak before the blackout period before the February 1 meeting. Waller is thought to be more of a hawk. Hence his comments will be monitored for a easing of those views.