John Williams is head of the NY Fed, and as such has a vote at each Federal Open Market Committee meeting.

Comments crossing the wires

(ps. the focus here at present is on moves following the news that Evergrande made its debt repayment,

post here: Reports Evergrande has paid $83.5m bond interest payment

and here: Risk FX comes back into favour after the news of Evergrande debt repayment

)

Ok, from Williams:

  • says longer run inflation expectations are in line with the fed's 2% goal
  • says if inflation expectations get anchored at too low a level that will then bring down actual inflation over time
  • there is a great deal of uncertainty about the economy today
  • US housing prices are rising very rapidly and asset valuations are quite elevated
  • house prices were driven higher by low rate environment and pandemic factors
  • higher home prices are not a risk to financial stability and banks are better capitalized than during the last crisis