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Fed Chair Warsh Says 2% Inflation Target Remains, Markets Focused on Events, Not Fed
Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh said Wednesday at a press conference that the Federal Open Market Committee will continue to act to deliver price stability, with its goal of 2% fully intact."For some households, businesses, and market professionals, five years of high inflation has left a mistaken impression that's hard to shake, but the Fed's implicit inflation target was somehow above 2%," Warsh said. "Let me reiterate. There is no soft inflation target. There is no soft implicit target. Not on this committee's watch. There's only a target and it's 2%."The FOMC maintained the target range for the federal funds rate at 3.50% to 3.75% and made no essential changes to the statement, but three Fed presidents dissented in favor of a 25-basis point rate increase.Warsh noted that both nominal and real yields are higher since the last FOMC meeting, a sign that markets have begun to look more closely at data in the absence of guidance from the Fed."Market participants are learning to play the ball, not the referee, and market prices will continue to respond in the direction and magnitude they see fit," Warsh said. "This is, in my view, a change for the better, and we're just getting started."In contrast, the FOMC is watching market reactions instead of the opposite."After all the Central Bank need not always everywhere be the center of attention," Warsh said. "I understand the desire for rolling forecasts and commentary from this committee, but for our part, we need to observe market reaction to developments, direct and unfiltered. I want to stress, of course, the decisions by this Committee matter a great deal, and where necessary and appropriate, we will not hesitate to act."Warsh said the softer consumer price reading for June had little impact of the FOMC's decision to hold rates steady."We are not relying on any one individual piece of data as cover or as an excuse, or as validation," Warsh said. "What I care about and what I think the Committee cares about is trends on the data."