Speaking in Farfax Virginia

  • consumer, business confidence supports growth
  • fiscal stimulus has helped lift confidence
  • US economy is in good growth trajectory
  • trade dispute risks sapping business confidence
  • not seeing outsize wage pressures despite low jobless
  • the economy is pretty tight and it's getting tighter
  • US plan of tariffs does cause issue with business confidence, nervousness among those firms he speaks to
  • US has a very strong employment market
  • inflation is essentially at the Feds 2% target
  • companies lack pricing power, aiding stable pricing
  • Fed policy is still pretty accommodative
  • hard to argue current stance is appropriate given strength of the US economy
  • US productivity currently lower than potential of businesses
  • declines to comment on how many rate increases he sees this year