On Powell, Inflation & Home Prices

Check out the accompanying pdf and chart collection. Executive Summary: After Fed Chair Powell’s press conference today, investors are bound to see more light at the end of the tightening tunnel. We’re hoping he’ll suggest that just two more 75bps turns of the federal-funds-rate screw—one announced today and another in December—may be tight enough. … Also: We assess the latest persistently high inflation data with an eye toward assessing whether our inflation forecast for the rest of this year is overly optimistic. … And: Housing prices are falling in the wake of rising mortgage rates. But we don’t see the market crashing as in 2007, Melissa explains. The downward drivers then and now are nothing alike.