In the opening remarks at the “Conference on Monetary Policy Strategy, Tools, and Communications Practices”, Fed Chair Jerome Powell said policy makers “do not know how or when” the issues on trade negotiations and other matters will be resolved. But they are closely monitoring the implications on economic outlook. And, Fed will “act as appropriate to sustain the expansion, with a strong labor market and inflation near our symmetric 2 percent objective.”
For the rest of the remarks, Powell focus on the longer-run issues related to the public review on monetary policy strategy, tools and communications. Specifically, the review in focused on three questions:
- Can the Federal Reserve best meet its statutory objectives with its existing monetary policy strategy, or should it consider strategies that aim to reverse past misses of the inflation objective?
- Are the existing monetary policy tools adequate to achieve and maintain maximum employment and price stability, or should the toolkit be expanded?
- How can the FOMC’s communication of its policy framework and implementation be improved?
