Stock market today: S&P 500 drops for fifth day as focus shifts to Powell’s speech
Investing.com -- Federal Reserve Bank of New York’s President and CEO John Williams refrained from making any predictions about the central bank’s interest rate policy for this year during his speech today at the Bloomberg Invest event.
Williams stated that it’s challenging to foresee the future of the economy due to high levels of uncertainty. He highlighted the difficulty in determining what will need to occur with the interest rate policy in this uncertain environment.
In his address, Williams emphasized that he closely monitors inflation expectations. He noted the importance of keeping an eye on the University of Michigan’s inflation expectations data. According to Williams, the data from the New York Fed has so far indicated more stable inflation expectations.
Williams also touched upon the topic of tariffs, mentioning that discussions about them are influencing people’s thoughts about near-term inflation. However, he found it hard to establish an economic outlook base case, suggesting that it’s more about various scenarios.
Despite the uncertainty, Williams assured that the Fed’s balance sheet strategy has remained unchanged. He also confirmed that the Fed’s minutes on the balance sheet did not alter the ultimate goals.
Williams concluded his remarks by stating he is not concerned about the Fed’s independence.
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