Fed’s Barkin (voter): We will get a lot of data between now and Sept meeting; Feel a little more confident on inflation in the near term - Carolina Business Review (update)
- Some debate on how much weather induced the jobs report weakness; 114K nonfarm payrolls number is pretty normal historically
- The question is how long the low hiring, low firing can persist
- Consumers are still spending but have become more price conscious
- It will take some time for rate cuts to permeate the economy
- We have strong and healthy demand growth, and inflation is coming down
- Credit card debt should be watched but its not at alarming levels
- My gut tells me inflation pressures are normalizing
- "Two whole rounds of jobs reports, two whole rounds of inflation readings, a lot of activity metrics...we'll make the best decision we can when we get to September."
- "I always assume there will be an equal amount of criticism no matter what we do. And so if we had moved at the last meeting, we would've gotten an equal amount of criticism that said we moved too quickly."
- "We've been through two years, two and a half years of very frothy labor markets, and so we're headed back down toward normal."