Fed Chair Powell: May say more about tapering timing as we see more data; this was the 'talking about talking about' meeting - post rate decision Q&A
- Committee did discuss progress towards goals today; We will provide advance notice before adjusting bond buys
- A couple years out, we will be looking at a very strong labor market; confident we are on path to very strong labor market
- Labor force participation can return to higher levels, but notes there have been a significant number of retirements recently
- There have been very large amounts of job openings out there
- We must be humble about ability to understand the data
- Inflation drivers are recently from categories linked to the recovery
- Timing on moderation of inflation is uncertain but seems likely factors causing it will be temporary
- Expects supply increases in coming months reducing bottlenecks
- Coming meetings will still be discussing future plans; will give appropriate notice when plans change
- Inflation expectations are anchored and in a good place right now
- We did not have discussions about rate liftoff at the meeting; that would be highly premature
- Dots are not a great forecaster of future rate moves; should be taken with a grain of salt
- Main message with SEP is that participants are becoming more comfortable that conditions for higher rates will be met sooner; that's a good thing
- Near-term discussions that will begin is about path of asset purchases; tapering process will be orderly, methodical, and transparent
- Not concerned about reverse repo facility volumes; the RRP provides floor on money market rates
- We are seeing higher wages for market entrants in low-skill jobs; we think supply and demand in labor market will meet in the coming months
- We are working on the supplemental leverage ratio but nothing to share on particulars or timing at the moment
- There is a chance on the other side of this that inflation could be quite low
- We are not out of the woods with respect to COVID variants; notes UK's delay of reopening due to the delta variant
- Economy is still growing at a very healthy rate
- We cannot estimate the neutral rate with great precision