New York Fed President John Williams said that “maybe we are near the bottom in terms of the economic downturn”. There could be a “pretty significant” rebound in the second half of the year. Nevertheless, he still cautioned that “even if we are starting to see perhaps a stabilization there in terms of the economy and maybe a little bit of a pickup, we’re still in a very difficult situation.”
Regarding monetary policy, Williams said Fed is “thinking very hard” targeting specific yields on Treasuries. “Yield-curve control, which has now been used in a few other countries, is I think a tool that can complement -– potentially complement –- forward guidance and our other policy actions.”
“So this is something that obviously we’re thinking very hard about. We’re analyzing not only what’s happened in other countries but also how that may work in the United States.”
