But in a speech to a group of financial industry professionals, Dudley gave no hint as to whether the next increase would come this year. He also noted that the impact of Hurricane Harvey, while devastating at the local level, is unlikely to cause a major impact to the US economy. Dudley's comments on inflation were especially interesting since he broke with recent Fed dogma blaming low inflation largely on one-off, transitory factors. But those shifts would be positive for the economy, since it would mean the US could put more people to work "without generating a troublesome large rise in inflation," Dudley said. Dudley said he expects the balance sheet to shrink by $1-2 trillion from the current $4.5 trillion.

Source: The Nation Bangkok September 07, 2017 23:03 UTC