Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh took a hawkish stance on inflation on Friday, indicating that he views the economy as strong, labor markets as healthy, and inflation still too high and showing little signs of progressing toward the Fed’s two percent goal.
\n\n“We must be confident that underlying inflation is moving to our objective, clearly and at sufficient speed. Otherwise, we have work to do,” he said in his debut speech as Fed chair at the Kansas City Fed’s annual symposium in Jackson, Wyoming.
\n\nWarsh sounded confident about economic growth and the labor market, pointing to high profits, robust business capital expenditures, vigorous corporate borrowing and investors eager to lend, healthy consumer spending, and a labor market consistent with full employment. These were indicators, Warsh said, that the economy shows few signs of restraint from monetary policy, echoing the words of other Fed officials who have explicitly called for rate hikes.
\n\nOn inflation, however, he said that “the numbers are more troubling.” Looking at the inflation reports released this summer, which came in better than expected, Warsh said that they do no indicate that “underlying trends have meaningfully improved.”
\n\n“Inflation is running above our 2 percent target. So the Fed’s…
Original source: https://www.breitbart.com/economy/