Dr. Platon Monokroussos, Chief Market Economist, Deputy General Manager, Eurobank Ergasias S.A
Global Economic & Market Outlook – Focus Notes (Thursday, February 18, 2016)
January FOMC minutes: Broadly consistent with recent Fed rhetoric
Reiterating the conclusion of the January post-meeting statement, the minutes from the January 26-27 FOMC meeting revealed a rather uncertain committee about how to interpret the global economic and financial developments in the economy, emphasizing the importance of closely monitoring these events and of assessing their implications for the labor market and inflation, and for the balance of risks to the outlook. According to the minutes of the said FOMC meeting, if the recent turbulence in global financial markets were to persist, then the effects could be “roughly equivalent to that from further firming in monetary policy”. Nevertheless, most policymakers judged that it was “premature to alter appreciably” their views on medium-term growth prospects. That said, FOMC participants noted that labor market conditions, which had continued to improve, tend to provide a more reliable early reading on the economy’s underlying strength than other measures of activity, including the preliminary weak Q4 GDP growth….
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GLOBAL FOCUS NOTE_FEBRUARY18_FOMC MINUTES
