US: Yellen Provides Balance to Previous Pessimism - MUFG
Derek Halpenny, European Head of GMR at MUFG, notes that the Fed Chair
Yellen was last night more eager to emphasise the positives while
sharing the stage with the previous three Fed Chairmen – Volker,
Greenspan and Bernanke.
Key Quotes
“She
strongly defended the decision to raise rates in December and argued
that the US economy was “coming close to” full employment and denied
that the US was a “bubble economy” while confirming that the economy was
on track for gradual rate increases.
However, she did also keep
alive the view that the FOMC was willing to allow inflation to drift
higher than its target by stating that while 2% is the inflation goal –
“it is not a ceiling”. The asymmetric bias to monetary policy action
remains and in that sense the dollar is unlikely to get the same upward
traction from good economic data from the US than downward traction from
any surprise weak data. That leaves investors more biased toward
selling dollars than buying.”
(Market News Provided by FXstreet)
