A year ago, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell warned fellow central bankers of the significant risks posed by trade policy uncertainty, and the lack of precedents for monetary policy in the face of those unknowns.
FILE PHOTO: Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, wearing a face mask, testifies before the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee during a hearing on oversight of the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve response to the outbreak of the coronavirus disease , on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., June 30, 2020. Tasos Katopodis/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
Added to that are political storm clouds gathering ahead of the Nov. 3 presidential election, with President Donald Trump already stoking doubts over the fairness of the process and its outcome. “When you have high degrees of uncertainty, it tends to mean policy is less effective,” says Nicholas Bloom, an economics professor at Stanford University. “For a given bang you need many more bucks.”And new research published last week by the Fed suggests that “uncertainty shocks” compound over time, so that several in a row deliver a much bigger blow to the economic outlook than each one might have in isolation.
Credit card spending also rose, data from JP Morgan shows, although that may not capture the activity of the roughly 28 million Americans who are collecting jobless benefits, which shrank this month as extra federal payments lapsed. Still, Fed policymakers are concerned the plethora of unknowns is exacerbating downward pressure on growth.
Powell could use his speech this week to lay out a clearer path for what he and his colleagues do control: monetary policy.
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Powell set to deliver 'profoundly consequential' speech, changing how the Fed views inflationPowell, who will speak Thursday during a virtual version of the Fed's annual Jackson Hole, Wyoming conference, will outline what could be the central bank's most active efforts ever to spur inflation back to a healthy level.
Read more »
TikTok reveals specific U.S. and global user growth numbers for the first timeVideo-sharing application has emerged surging growth both in the U.S. and internationally.
Read more »
North Korea was Trump's chief foreign policy boast, but things got worse on his watchTrump threatened 'fire and fury,' then met three times with North Korea’s ruler in an ambitious bid to seek nuclear disarmament. It failed.
Read more »
Tropical Storm Marco becomes a hurricane and heads toward U.S. Gulf CoastThe National Hurricane Center warned of potentially life-threatening storm surge and high winds along the U.S. Gulf Coast as Hurricane Marco approaches.
Read more »
TikTok to Trump: Ban Violates Due Process and 'We Simply Have No Choice' But to SueThe ByteDance-owned social video app is suing President Donald Trump in response to his recent executive order.
Read more »
Plaid adds firepower behind its open banking agenda - Business InsiderBusiness Insider is a fast-growing business site with deep financial, media, tech, and other industry verticals. Launched in 2007, the site is now the largest business news site on the web.
Read more »