
Powell Vows to Keep Policy Loose, Well Into Recovery
The Federal Reserve has started a massive monetary stimulus programme in early March well into trillions of dollars, although no one can keep track of the amount of money already being thrown at the economy. On top of that, the US government has also thrown a couple of trillions too.
But, that is not the end of the pit. The economy will feel the effects of the shutfown for years and the thing is that the shutdown still continues. FED president Jerome Powell pledged to keep the money flowing well into the recovery, which we don’t know when it will even begin.
Powell’s Comments For the Peterson Institute
- Fed will continue to use tools ‘to their fullest’ until crisis has passed and recovery is well underway
- Scope and speed of downturn ‘without precedent’
- More fiscal aid may be worth the cost to limit lasting harm
- Fiscal trade off is decision for our elected officials
- Outlook highly uncertain and downside risks significant
- Virus raises concerns of long-term economic harm
- Policies will need to be ready to respond to a range of outcomes
- Over the course of the next month or so unemployment will peak
- Unemployment could drop sharply but will remain ‘well above’ previous low
- Economy should substantially recover once the virus is under control; no reason we can’t get back to very low unemployment but it will take some time
- The Fed will wait-and-see on full employment in the future
- The time to take action on debt and deficits is during good times
There’s no change in signals in the initial comments. The pledge to use the Fed’s tools is right out of the FOMC statement. Importantly though, he didn’t push back against negative rates and the market is taking that as a signal. The US dollar has softened and gold rose $5.