The Federal Reserve's Federal Open Market Committee meet on Wednesday
While it is a busy day in Asia today I thought I'd take a moment for a look further ahead. I know there are those very interested in what is to come on the horizon;
Via RBC, not looking for anything much of significance, which sounds about right 9bolding mine):
- The August FOMC meeting and press statement should come and go with very little fanfare. For one, it is quite rare to see significant tweaks in a meeting that is not accompanied by a press conference. But more importantly, things have not shifted significantly enough to warrant any notable alterations. Indeed, the idea that economic activity remains "solid" and that inflation is at/near the 2% target remains true.
- Though the tariff tantrum has ramped up a bit since the last FOMC confab, the core of the Fed is thus far unconvinced that this warrants any material shift in the outlook. Indeed, Fed Chair Powell was relatively sanguine on the tariff question in his recent semi-annual testimony in front on Congress. Thus don't expect the word tariff to all of a sudden make its way into the policy statement. The committee already highlights "international developments" as one of the factors dictating monetary policy calibration in its statements and we would lump trade tensions into this bucket.
- Beyond the August meeting, our core view remains that the Fed is poised to raise the funds rate by additional 50bps this year and another 100bps in 2019.
