As Willian C. Dudley indicated in his last speech, the FOMC members decided that the time to discuss the tapering of the QE3 program has come. Even if there are still doubts concerning this decision, FOMC members decided that risks of an economic downturn have diminished since the Fed started to run this bold program. Yesterday, Moody’s Investors Service started the positive data string with revising its outlook to stable from negative, decision that has been postponed for 5 years before being implemented.
The decision of the rating agency doesn’t necessarily reflect a real improvement of the economy. Actually, it reflect an impulse given to an economy that recovers at a slower pace that before (the labour market started to recover, but not as expected). Economists keep being positive and expect an improvement in the second half of this year, but is difficult to ignore real facts that make these expectations difficult to be accomplish. Thus, high prices on oil, slow growth in exports and increased mortgage rates represents factors that will most probably lead to a poor growth of the economy. Concerning the outlook for the inflation, the oppininons are devided. The highly accommodative monetary policy supproters (that now had remained less) believe that the inflation is far from reaching the target, while other oppinions are reflecting big expectations about a suitable inflation in short time. Follow the reports on the U.S.’s economy for the next short term in order to understand if the QE3 will be reduced by the end of this year or by the middle of 2014 but, in all cases, this program will be over soon.
FOMC About To Change Its Perspectives by Silvia Gabor