In the FOMC Press Conference on December 15, 2021 Powell noted the following key points:
- In addition, in light of the strengthening labor market and elevated inflation pressures, we decided to speed up reduction in asset purchases.
- Beginning in mid-January, we will reduce the monthly pace or our net asset purchases by $20 billion for Treasury securities and $10 billion for agency mortgage-backed securities.
- If the economy evolves broadly as expected, similar reductions in the pace of net asset purchases will likely be appropriate each month, implying that increases in our securities holdings would cease by mid-March – a few months sooner than we anticipated in early November.
Powell forgot to mention that stock markets around the world would collapse in the first half of 2022. Regardless of what Powell says in the June 14, 2023 Press Conference, Engrbytrade™ calculations indicate stock markets are expected to decline during the last half of 2023.
During the first eight minutes of the December 15, 2021 speech, Powell provided the following points.
- The FOMC kept interest rates near zero and updated its assessment of the progress that the economy has made toward the criteria specified in the Committee’s forward guidance for interest rates.
- In addition, in light of the strengthening labor market and elevated inflation pressures, we decided to speed up reduction in asset purchases.
- Healthy financial positions of households and businesses
- FOMC participants continue to foresee rapid growth
- Summary of Economic projections shows the median projection for real GDP growth stands at 5.5 percent this year and 4 percent next year.
- The economy has been making rapid progress towards maximum employment.
- Job gains have been solid in recent months, averaging 378,000 per month over the last three months.
- The unemployment rate has declined substantially – falling 6/10 of a percentage point since our last meeting and reaching 4.2 percent in November.
- The recent improvements in labor market conditions have narrowed the differences in employment across groups, especially for workers at the lower end of the wage distribution as well as for African Americans and Hispanics.
- Labor force participation showed a welcome rise in November – but remains subdued, in part reflecting the aging of the population and retirements.
- In addition, some who otherwise would be seeking work report that they are out of the labor force because of factors related to the pandemic, including care giving needs and ongoing concerns about the virus.
- At the same time, employers are having difficulties filling job openings, and wages are rising at their fastest pace in many years.
- How long the labor shortages will persist is unclear, particularly if additional waves of the virus occur.
- Looking ahead, FOMC participants project the labor market to continue to improve with the median projection for the unemployment rate declining to 3.5 percent by the end of the year
- Compared with the projections made in September, participants have revised their unemployment rate projections noticeably lower for this year and next.
- Supply and demand imbalances related to the pandemic and [to] the reopening of the economy have continued to contribute to elevated levels of inflation. In particular, bottlenecks and supply constraints are limiting how quickly production can respond to higher demand in the near term. These problems have been larger and longer lasting than anticipated, exacerbated by waves of the virus. As a result, overall inflation is running well above our 2 percent longer-run goal and will likely continue to do so well into next year.
- While the drivers of higher inflation have been connected to the dislocations caused by the pandemic, price increases have now spread to a broader range of goods and services.
- Wages have also risen briskly, but thus far, wage growth has not been a major contributor to the elevated levels of inflation.
- We are attentive to the risks that persistent real wage growth in excess of productivity [growth] could put upward upward pressure on inflation.
- Like most forecasters, we continue to expect inflation to decline to levels closer to our 2 percent longer-run goal by the end of next year.
- The median inflation projection of FOMC participants falls from 5.3 percent this year to 2.6 percent next year. This trajectory is noticeably higher that projected in September.
- We understand that high inflation imposes significant hardship, especially on those least able to meet the higher cost of essentials like food, housing, and transportation.
- We are committed to our price stability goal.
- We will use our tools both to support the economy and a strong labor market and to prevent higher inflation from becoming entrenched.
- We will be watching carefully to see whether the economy is evolving in line with expectations.
- The Fed’s policy actions have been guided by our mandate to promote maximum employment and stable prices for the American people.
- In support of these goals, the Committee reaffirmed the 0 to ¼ percent target range for the federal funds rate. We also updated our assessment of the progress the economy has made toward the criteria specified in our forward guidance for the federal funds rate.
- With inflation having exceeded 2 percent for some time, the Committee expects it will be appropriate to maintain this target range until labor market conditions have reached levels consistent with the Committee’s assessments of maximum employment.
- All FOMC participants forecast that this remaining test will be met next year.
- The median projection for the appropriate level of the federal funds rate is 0.9 percent at the end of 2022, about ½ percentage point higher than projected in September.
- Participants expect a gradual pace of policy firming, with the level of the federal funds rate generally near estimates of its longer-run level by the end of 2024.
- Of course, these projections do not represent a Committee decision or plan, and no one knows with any certainty where the economy will be a year or more from now.
- At today’s meeting, the Committee also decided to double the pace of reductions in its asset purchases. Beginning in mid-January, we will reduce the monthly pace or our net asset purchases by $20 billion for Treasury securities and $10 billion for agency mortgage-backed securities.
- If the economy evolves broadly as expected, similar reductions in the pace of net asset purchases will likely be appropriate each month, implying that increases in our securities holdings would cease by mid-March – a few months sooner than we anticipated in early November.
- We are phasing out our purchases more rapidly because, with elevated inflation pressures and a rapidly strengthening labor market, the economy longer needs increasing amounts of policy support.
- In addition, a quicker conclusion of our asset purchases will better position policy to address the full range of plausible economic outcomes. We remain prepared to adjust the pace of purchases if warranted by changes in the economic outlook. And, even after our balance sheet stops expanding, our holdings of securities will continue to foster accommodated financial conditions.
- To conclude: We understand that our actions affect communities, families, and businesses across the country.
- Everything we do is in service to our public mission. We at the Fed will do everything we can to complete the recovery in employment and achieve our price- stability goal.