INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
As US central bankers prepare to raise borrowing costs next month, their discussion about how high to lift their target interest rate is
intensifying.
Their forecasts call for strong labor markets and robust growth at a time when inflation is already slightly above their goal
At the same time, there are potential headwinds from trade disputes, waning fiscal stimulus and the lurking danger of financial
instabilities that tend to build up over long periods of low policy rates during lengthy expansions.
The minutes released Wednesday from the
Federal Open Market Committee’s July 31-Aug
1 meeting left little doubt that Chairman Jerome Powell plans to raise the benchmark lending rate next month, saying “it would likely soon
be appropriate to take another step in removing policy accommodation.” Investors will be looking for more insight at this week’s meeting
of central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming
“They are clearly having a debate about how much they hike,” said Seth Carpenter, chief US economist for UBS Securities Inc
and a former senior adviser at the Fed Board
“They did talk a lot about risks, and downside risks from trade in three or four areas.”
The signals came despite scrutiny from
President Donald Trump, the man who appointed Powell and who told Reuters in a recent interview that he was “not thrilled” with the
Fed’s tightening.
A September hike would put the benchmark lending rate in a range of 2-2.25per cent, just under the bottom of
officials’ 2.3 per cent to 3.5per cent range of estimates for the so-called neutral rate -- economics lingo for the level that neither
stimulates nor holds back the economy.
While the minutes made no mention of political heat, they were full of downside risks stemming from
All Fed officials viewed trade disputes “as an important source of uncertainty and risks.” Still, a number of officials noted that
“most businesses concerned about trade disputes had not yet cut back their capital expenditures or hiring but might do so if trade
tensions were not resolved soon.”
For all the “sound and fury they have in the minutes” on trade, “you don’t come away with
tangible growth effects that are actually occurring,” said Michael Feroli, JPMorgan Chase’s chief US economist.
He added there was
little indication that Fed officials are setting up a pause in their cycle of rate hikes
Indeed, the minutes used the plural form, noting that “further gradual increases” in their target rate “would be consistent” with
their policy goals.
In its presentation to the FOMC’s most recent meeting, the staff forecast continued to project that the economy would
grow “at an abovetrend pace,” and also signaled there is more slack in the job market as they expected labor force participation to move
up.
“What the minutes told us is that they are soon moving into the range of estimates for a neutral policy rate, and it isn’t clear
when they are going to stop,” said Laura Rosner, senior economist at MacroPolicy Perspectives LLC in New York
“But I think they are more concerned about overdoing it than underdoing it in terms of tightening.”
Underscoring that point, the minutes
said many officials noted that it would likely be appropriate to remove “fairly soon” their description of policy as accommodative.
