New York Fed President to speak
Williams hasn't spoke since his infamous speech on July 18 when he said that when neutral rates are low you should not keep your powder dry. It was read to sound like an endorsement of a 50 bps cut at the July 31 meeting.
Shortly after it was published, the NY Fed walked it back.
Today's comments:
- He is ready to act as appropriate to support economy and return to 2% inflation; carefully watching inflation
- Fed must be flexible in its response to information on economy
- Economy is in a good place but he is focused on persistently low inflation, deflationary pressures from abroad
- Fed's policy actions and communications have helped ease financial conditions and could sustain expansion
- His number one goal is to keep US economic expansion on track
- Consumers are robust but manufacturing data is weakening
- Cites Brexit and eurozone as a particular concern
This sounds like a guy who is prepared to support a 25 basis point cut and isn't against cutting more after that.
