St Louis Fed president, James Bullard, speaks in an interview with the FT

Bullard
  • You have to be prepared for twists and turns in a crisis
  • Looking for job gains to average out around 500k per month this year
  • These numbers are going to bounce up and down
  • Jobs are there, it's that workers may not want those jobs right now
  • Fed needs optionality to raise rates in 2022
  • That means wrapping up asset purchases by the end of Q1 2022
  • Another reason to taper is the incipient housing bubble

As mentioned earlier in the week, while a softer jobs report on Friday last week may have eased taper expectations among market participants, it isn't going to put off the Fed's timeline to do so by year-end. Don't expect Bullard to be alone in having this view.