Following Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell's description of the U.S. economic outlook as "remarkably positive", market watchers are fielding questions as to how long this rosy period might last.
The answer? Quite some time, in the words of Chicago Fed chief executive Charles Evans -- but only if interest rates are hiked to above neutral, which Evans describes as just over 3 percent.
"The U.S. economy is doing extremely well. Fundamentals are strong, the labor market is doing terrific," Evans told CNBC's Squawk Box Europe on Wednesday. Indeed, unemployment is currently below 4 percent, its lowest level in 18 years; payroll employment has added more than 200,000 jobs per month and inflation is up to the Fed's target level of 2 percent.
"I spent quite a long time indicating that I think inflation needs to get up to 2 percent, and here we are," Evans said. "So I think things are going very well, this is something that can be continued for a number of years, in fact I think that by setting the policy rate just a little above neutral, that will continue to keep things going for quite some time."
from Top News & Analysis https://ift.tt/2P3OQspvia IFTTT
No comments:
Post a Comment