Comments from Atlanta Fed President Dennis Lockhart on the economic outlook and monetary policy:
- Sees first rate hike by mid-2015 or ‘a bit later’
- Patience on rates won’t cause systemic instability
- Inflation undershoot bigger concern than overshoot
- China transition ‘challenges’ among global risks
- Sees 3% pace of GDP growth through 2015
- Housing market ‘raises some concern’
- Lack of wage pressure and weakening of inflation show still-weak demand conditions in overall economy
- Spike in dollar could or weak consumer spending could dampen growth in coming months
The main headline is a touch hawkish but everything else is just the opposite. The Fed is really starting to worry about low inflation and a stronger dollar, among other things.
