If the saying is that we’re always fighting the last war, Chair Powell and his Fed comrades appear to be shellshocked. Not so long ago, when asked about where the FOMC’s collective thinking was, Mr Powell went with the rather cumbersome formulation “not thinking about thinking about” rate hikes. This time around, when asked about the various ins and outs of potential rate cuts, Powell said point blank that “the next question… is when it will become appropriate to begin dialing back the amount of policy restraint that’s in place… that’s really the next question, and that’s what people are thinking about and talking about”.
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