San Fransisco Fed president John Williams in an interview with the WSJ
- If economy performs as expected, Fed is likely to raise rates steadily over next couple of years
- Two to three rate hikes in 2019 is reasonable
- Fed's official economic forecasts haven't changed significantly because of tax overhaul
- Confident inflation will rise eventually, may even exceed 2% at some point
- Doesn't see any signs of other big risks to the economy
- Fed can continue to move gradually
- Asset markets are "extremely strong" now, but not in bubble territory
- Not worried about a recession over the next year or two
Williams will be a voting member on the Fed board in 2018. He was also a close ally of outgoing Fed Chair Janet Yellen. From the looks of it, we should expect him (and the Fed) to copy and paste the 2017 blueprint into 2018 as well.
Link to the article here (may be gated).
