WASHINGTON, Jan. 28 -- In its first policy meeting of 2020 that began on Tuesday, the U.S. Federal Reserve is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged despite renewed calls by President Donald Trump to cut rates, analysts have said.
"We expect the Fed to remain comfortably on the sidelines during this meeting. Look for the official statement to underscore the good news in the housing market while lamenting the weakness in manufacturing," Diane Swonk, chief economist at Grant Thornton, a major accounting firm, wrote in an analysis last week.
"Most within the Federal Reserve system are hoping to sit out 2020, but the threshold for a rate cut is still considerably lower than the threshold for a rate hike," Swonk noted, adding U.S. inflation has undershot the Fed's target of 2 percent since it was adopted explicitly in 2017.
However, following three consecutive rate cuts in 2019, Fed officials generally agreed that it would be appropriate to leave rates unchanged "for a time", according to the minutes of the Fed's policy meeting on Dec. 10-11.
"A number of participants agreed that maintaining the current stance of monetary policy would give the Committee some time to assess the full effects on the economy of its policy decisions," the minutes said, referring to the Fed's policy-making committee.
In recent weeks, Fed officials have also publicly expressed their satisfaction with the current level of interest rates, signaling no change in rates anytime soon.
"I don't think we should be making any moves at this point on the fed funds rate," Robert Kaplan, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, told CNBC in an interview earlier this month.
His comments were echoed by Charles Evans, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, who predicted that the Fed could go through the entire year without rate changes.
Tom Barkin, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, believed that the Fed has done a lot to support the economy's continued expansion and it's more important to step up on the fiscal side in the current environment.
"That includes trade actions and trade uncertainty, regulatory changes and regulatory uncertainty, geopolitical challenges and domestic politics," Barkin said in a speech in early January, adding the biggest boost to the U.S. economy would come from "lessening the uncertainty and lowering the volume."
While the Fed stressed the importance of independent monetary policy, Trump repeatedly called on the central bank to slash rates to boost the U.S. economy.
"The Fed should get smart & lower the Rate to make our interest competitive with other Countries which pay much lower even though we are, by far, the high standard," Trump tweeted Tuesday.
"We would then focus on paying off & refinancing debt! There is almost no inflation - this is the time (2 years late)!" the president added.
At a press conference in December, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell indicated that it would take a "material reassessment" of U.S. economic outlook before the Fed would change policy.
"If developments emerge that cause a material reassessment of our outlook, we would respond accordingly. Policy is not on a preset course," Powell said.
The Fed lowered rates three times in 2019, amid growing uncertainty stemming from trade tensions, weakness in global growth and muted inflation pressures. These policy adjustments put the current federal funds rate target range at 1.5 percent to 1.75 percent.
2017届高考英语一轮复习书面表达专项训练:7(含范文)
2017届高考英语广东版英语测试报高三上学期综合版训练:第2期 A版答案(外研版)
2017届高考英语广东版英语测试报高三上学期综合版训练:第12期 A4(外研版)
2017届高考英语广东版英语测试报高三上学期综合版训练:第2期Practice听说训练录音材料(外研版)
2017届高考英语广东版英语测试报高三上学期综合版训练:第1期 B3(外研版)
2017届高考英语广东版英语测试报高三上学期综合版训练:第11期 B2(外研版)
2017届高考英语广东版英语测试报高三上学期综合版训练:第1期 A2-3(外研版)
2017届高考英语广东版英语测试报高三上学期综合版训练:第3期 A1(外研版)
2017届高考英语一轮复习书面表达专项训练:2(含范文)
2017届高考英语一轮复习书面表达专项训练:6(含范文)
(新课标地区)2017届高考英语一轮复习课件:选修7 Unit2《Robots》(新人教版)
2017届高考英语广东版英语测试报高三上学期综合版训练:第3期 A版答案(外研版)
2017届高考英语一轮复习书面表达专项训练:1(含范文)
2017届高考英语广东版英语测试报高三上学期综合版训练:第2期 A2-3(外研版)
2017届高考英语广东版英语测试报高三上学期综合版训练:第12期 B版答案(外研版)
2017届高考英语广东版英语测试报高三上学期综合版训练:第1期 A4(外研版)
2017届高考英语广东版英语测试报高三上学期综合版训练:第2期 A1(外研版)
2017届高考英语广东版英语测试报高三上学期综合版训练:第2期 A4(外研版)
2017届高考英语广东版英语测试报高三上学期综合版训练:第3期 A2-3(外研版)
“我可能XX了假XX”,用英语怎么说“假”?
2017届高考英语一轮复习书面表达专项训练:10(含范文)
2017届高考英语一轮复习书面表达专项训练:3(含范文)
2017届高考英语一轮复习书面表达专项训练:9(含范文)
2017届高考英语一轮复习书面表达专项训练:8(含范文)
2017届高考英语广东版英语测试报高三上学期综合版训练:第2期 B3(外研版)
2017届高考英语广东版英语测试报高三上学期综合版训练:第11期Practice听说训练录音材料(外研版)
2017届高考英语广东版英语测试报高三上学期综合版训练:第1期 B版答案(外研版)
2017届高考英语广东版英语测试报高三上学期综合版训练:第1期 A版答案(外研版)
(新课标地区)2017届高考英语一轮复习课件:选修7 Unit3《Under the sea》(新人教版)
2017届高考英语广东版英语测试报高三上学期综合版训练:第2期 B版答案(外研版)
不限 |
英语教案 |
英语课件 |
英语试题 |
不限 |
不限 |
上册 |
下册 |
不限 |