Assessment: Republican Jay Powell is under heavy political pressure as the progressive left urge Joe Biden not to nominate Powell as Fed Chair.
Is this the beginning of the end? Or the end of the beginning of the real big end? While the FOMC statement did not explicitly “talk taper”, the dots suggest a Fed that is more hawkish than before… but whatever you do, don’t interpret that as ‘tightening’.
“And do not harm the oil and wine” Rev. 6:6
Fed Chair Jay Powell has some dancing between the raindrops to do today: avoid being cornered on firing Rosengren and Kaplan; avoid suggesting the economy is doing ‘too well’, avoid saying the economy is not ‘doing well’; avoid being forced to express his views on when and how long any tapering of The Fed’s purchases will be…
In other words, Powell has to go full ‘Greenspan’ today, mumble a lot, use big words, and escape to fight another day. Read More
