A quick look at the voting members for the Fed meetings in 2018
Earlier in the day (and just recently here), Fed member Kashkari made some comments on the risks of a recession should the Fed hike rates too fast. He was one of the dissenters in last week's meeting - opting to vote against a rate hike. The other dissenter was Charles Evans. But come 2018, they will both not be voting members at the FOMC meeting.
So, who will be?
Here's the list of the confirmed voters so far:
- Fed Chair - Jerome Powell
- Board of Governors - Lael Brainard
- Board of Governors - Randal Quarles
- NY Fed - William Dudley
- Cleveland Fed - Loretta Mester
- San Francisco Fed - John Williams
- Atlanta Fed - Raphael Bostic
The Richmond Fed president will also be a voting member but they have yet to appoint someone to replace Jeffrey Lacker. The current interim head is Mark Mullinix. Apart from that, Trump will still need to fill in a 4 spots on the board (there is still no replacement named for Vice Chair Stanley Fischer).
But at least with Kashkari and Evans out now, and with Mester (hawk) coming in - there's a better likelihood of the Fed facing less dissenters if they were to adopt a more aggressive rate hike path.
As for Williams and Bostic, I haven't heard much from them to be honest - but from what I read they're more or less neutral. But the make or break factor as to how hawkish/dovish the board will be next year will ultimately come down to Trump's appointments.
