Fed Vice Chair Richard Clarida said in a speech that the US economic fundamentals are “robust”. And if the economic expansion continues in 2019 as he expected, “this will become the longest US expansion in recorded history”.
And, at this stage of the interest rate cycle, it will be “especially important to monitor a wide range of data” for the path of Fed’s policy interest rates. “Data dependence” should play in two distinct roles of “formulation and commination” of monetary policy.
He also noted that “as the economy has moved to a neighborhood consistent with the Fed’s dual-mandate objectives, risks have become more symmetric and less skewed to the downside”.
