Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said yesterday that the US economy is doing “remarkably well”. And he expected “the economy to continue to growth, labor markets to continue to be strong.” He echoed comments of many other Fed officials and said monetary policy is in “a good place”. He emphasized that ” inflation would have to go above 2% by some meaningful amount for me to really think that we need something more restrictive.” And it’s “extremely important that we get inflation up to 2% …I actually think it’s important that we overshoot.”
New York Fed President John Williams said “I feel very good about how the economy’s been this year, how it’s progressed and feel very good about how it’s going to look next year.” He expected the economy to growth by about 2% in 2020, with unemployment staying close to current 3.5%. Also, he expected inflation to approach Fed’s 2% target.
Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin “the major reason the consumer is strong is they have jobs and not only do they have jobs but real wages are up”. He said that Fed’s rate cuts this year “have helped some, but they’ve helped in the context of what’s been a very strong consumer all year long.”
