Comments from Powell in his opening statement
- The labor market has a ways to go
- Household spending rising at an especially rapid pace
- Special factors appear to be weighing on labor force participation but those should wane in coming months
- Supply bottlenecks have been larger than anticipated
- Inflation still expected to fall back to longer run goals
- Housing remains strong and business investment rising at a solid pace
- Inflation could turn out to be higher and more persistent than we expect
- If we saw signs of material and consistent rises in medium-term inflation beyond target, we would respond
- The timing of any taper will depend on incoming data and we will provide advance notice before any changes
The taper comments don't have the same strident qualifiers about 'still a ways off' or anything along those lines. Him saying 'advance' notice isn't as strong as previously.
