Chicago Fed President Charles Evans expected recovery momentum to continue into next year. He’s “reasonably optimistic that unemployment rate will fall to 5.5% by the end of next year. Also, he put “less weight on the adverse economic consequences of a second or third wave” of coronavirus infections. The US seemed to be “powering through this no matter how adverse and horrific those consequences are”.
But he also emphasized the need for fiscal support even though that’s “kind of counter cultural” for monetary policy makers to say so. “This is a public health safety shock. This is a lot about confidence of consumers, households and businesses being able to go out and do commerce. We really need fiscal and public health authorities to be supporting and improving the economic environment,” he added.
