Federal Reserve Chair Powell is speaking from midday US Eastern time on Thursday, 19 October 2023:
- 1600 GMT
- Powell participates in discussion on the economic outlook before an Economic Club of New York luncheon, in New York
Analysts brief preives.
Chief US economist at Deutsche Bank says Powell will agree with some other Fed officials who have said the Fed can pause in November and that the bond market is doing some of its monetary tightening for them. But, on the other hand, Powell will have to strike a relatively more hawkish tone about December given the recent batch of data
- “that does seem to increase uncertainty about how much progress they are making” on growth, the labour market and inflation
Chief economist at CIBC Capital Markets:
- “I don’t think Powell will take a definitive position as some on the FOMC have taken that interest rate hikes are behind us”, saying upside surprises in growth add credence to the September Fed statement indicating one more25 basis point rate hike at either the November or December meeting
- said there are clear divisions at the Fed
- Fed’s forecasts for interest rates at the end of 2025 are “are all over the place.”
- “There was a very divergent set of views, which is understandable given that we’re getting ambiguous signals with cooling inflation and not a cooling of growth”