The Fed Remains On Hold

As investors, central bankers, and economists the world over await the US monetary policy decision to emerge from next week’s FOMC meeting, William and Ed assess where Fed officials’ heads are at. Their recent speeches don’t suggest urgency to ease, and neither do recent economic data releases. Inflation and unemployment, as of now, both are tame. But officials face extreme visibility challenges trying to make out what lies up ahead, as Trump’s unknown tariff impacts fog their views of near-term GDP growth, unemployment, and inflation. … Central banks around the world are navigating in the dark as well, blinded by the uncertain ramifications for their economies of US policy decisions—monetary, fiscal, and trade related.