“That’s everyone’s top-of-mind question: How much will Powell micro-manage financial conditions? We have reached a point where the economy is showing signs of slowing,” said Laura Rosner-Warburton, a senior US economist at MacroPolicy Perspectives in New York. “If we don’t see more slowing in the data and instead things bounce, then the Fed will have to more actively manage financial conditions.”
Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will have a chance – if he wants to take it – to reset expectations in financial markets when central bankers gather this week at their annual Jackson Hole retreat.
Powell speaks on the economic outlook at 10 am Washington time Friday and is expected to re-state the Fed’s resolve to keep raising interest rates to get inflation under control, though he’ll probably stop short of signalling how big officials will go when they meet next month.
