FOMC Preview
May 1, 2019
At the previous review of U.S. monetary policy on March 20, members of the Federal Open Market Committee modified their forward guidance on interest rates, eliminating each of the likely two hikes in 2019 that had been signaled at the final 2018 FOMC meeting in December. m date to be mentioned at this time. A statement then had noted slower GDP growth late in 2018 and diminished jobs creation in February, and lower inflation was attributed in large part to lower energy prices. Even though the more dovish stance seemed justifiable, markets suspected the shift may have been influenced by President Trump’s unconcealed criticism of Fed policy last year. Chairman Powell at the March 20th press conference explicitly denied any politicization of the FOMC, revealing the central bank’s concern that its lawfully enshrined independence had been compromised.
It’s very unlikely that the Fed today will throw the president a further bone by either cutting the 2-1/4 to 2-1/2% fed funds target or even by modifying language to suggest that such a reduction will probably happen before yearend. While data supported a more accommodative Fed when the FOMC last met, the same cannot really be said now.
- U.S. real GDP growth faster than forecast in the first quarter, surpassing 3.0% for the third time in four quarters and resulting in a 3.2% rise from 1Q18.
- Labor market data have tightened. Non-farm payroll employment rebounded from a rise of 37K in February to one of 196K in March. New jobless insurance claims averaged just 206K per week over the latest four reported week, down from 217-1/4K in the prior four-week period to March 23rd and 229-1/4K per week in the four weeks to February 23rd.
- Oil prices have rebounded strongly in 2019, climbing 32.1% in the first quarter and another 6.3% in April. This development is a counterweight to continuing sub-target inflation.
Even if recent data had been softer during the past six weeks, FOMC officials might hesitate to appear to be doing President Trump’s bidding at a second straight meeting. Indeed, the White House’s efforts to influence monetary policy has not been limited to tweeted complaints about rates being too high. The nominations of Herman Cain (since withdrawn) and Stephen Moore to the Fed Board of Governors is a transparent attempt to put pro-growth supply-siders on the FOMC. Even more than at the March press conference, Chairman Powell will hope to avoid anything today that could jeopardize confidence in Fed independence additionally.
The table below shows where vital U.S. market signs were at the time of previous FOMC statements going back to mid-2004. That’s the meeting when the FOMC began a streak of 17 consecutive 25-basis point fed funds target hikes from 1.0% to 5.25%. Since the meeting six weeks ago, the dollar has appreciated a tad more than 1.0% on a trade-weighted basis, and oil prices have climbed sharply. Those developments if sustained would tend to snug financial market conditions. But a decline in long-term interest rates and continuing rally in share prices would have the opposite effect. On balance, recent market activity seems unlikely to dominate the thinking of committee members at this week’s meeting.
EUR/$ | $/JPY | 10Y, % | DJIA | Oil, $ | |
06/30/04 | 1.2173 | 109.44 | 4.63 | 10396 | 37.95 |
06/30/05 | 1.2090 | 110.89 | 3.96 | 10370 | 57.00 |
06/29/06 | 1.2527 | 116.07 | 5.20 | 11077 | 73.41 |
06/28/07 | 1.3452 | 123.17 | 5.10 | 13456 | 69.82 |
08/07/07 | 1.3749 | 118.55 | 4.73 | 13510 | 72.27 |
09/18/07 | 1.3888 | 115.75 | 4.51 | 13475 | 81.42 |
10/31/07 | 1.4458 | 115.28 | 4.42 | 13873 | 93.59 |
12/11/07 | 1.4682 | 111.49 | 4.11 | 13645 | 89.78 |
01/30/08 | 1.4792 | 107.31 | 3.70 | 12454 | 91.70 |
03/18/08 | 1.5786 | 98.73 | 3.41 | 12257 | 107.53 |
04/30/08 | 1.5562 | 104.58 | 3.83 | 12953 | 111.54 |
06/25/08 | 1.5568 | 108.37 | 4.18 | 11837 | 133.62 |
08/05/08 | 1.5445 | 108.42 | 3.97 | 11484 | 119.82 |
09/16/08 | 1.4144 | 105.16 | 3.36 | 10936 | 91.18 |
10/08/08 | 1.3625 | 99.87 | 3.50 | 9447 | 87.02 |
10/29/08 | 1.2933 | 97.15 | 3.81 | 9145 | 67.38 |
12/16/08 | 1.3790 | 90.14 | 2.52 | 8687 | 44.14 |
01/28/09 | 1.3253 | 90.01 | 2.61 | 8356 | 42.92 |
03/18/09 | 1.3115 | 98.13 | 2.94 | 7340 | 47.73 |
04/29/09 | 1.3331 | 97.06 | 3.02 | 8194 | 51.05 |
06/24/09 | 1.3984 | 95.43 | 3.59 | 8373 | 68.76 |
08/12/09 | 1.4221 | 96.17 | 3.71 | 9366 | 70.64 |
09/23/09 | 1.4779 | 91.50 | 3.50 | 9859 | 69.13 |
11/04/09 | 1.4884 | 90.75 | 3.51 | 9896 | 80.66 |
12/16/09 | 1.4542 | 89.78 | 3.56 | 10478 | 73.14 |
01/27/10 | 1.4045 | 89.49 | 3.61 | 10148 | 73.31 |
03/16/10 | 1.3756 | 90.64 | 3.67 | 10645 | 81.45 |
04/28/10 | 1.3157 | 94.10 | 3.75 | 11043 | 82.57 |
06/23/10 | 1.2284 | 90.12 | 3.13 | 10307 | 76.50 |
08/10/10 | 1.3107 | 85.85 | 2.81 | 10605 | 79.94 |
09/21/10 | 1.3132 | 85.21 | 2.66 | 10747 | 73.05 |
11/03/10 | 1.4059 | 81.35 | 2.53 | 11174 | 84.59 |
12/14/10 | 1.3423 | 83.37 | 3.38 | 11497 | 88.47 |
01/26/11 | 1.3658 | 82.55 | 3.41 | 12001 | 87.36 |
03/15/11 | 1.3969 | 81.04 | 3.29 | 11815 | 98.09 |
04/27/11 | 1.4665 | 82.63 | 3.36 | 12612 | 112.48 |
06/22/11 | 1.4392 | 80.12 | 2.97 | 12175 | 94.87 |
08/09/11 | 1.4234 | 77.09 | 2.36 | 10993 | 81.76 |
09/21/11 | 1.3778 | 76.34 | 1.93 | 11377 | 86.74 |
11/02/11 | 1.3724 | 78.11 | 2.03 | 11805 | 92.77 |
12/13/11 | 1.3067 | 77.92 | 1.98 | 12130 | 100.20 |
01/25/12 | 1.3027 | 77.96 | 1.97 | 12670 | 98.85 |
03/13/12 | 1.3096 | 82.76 | 2.08 | 13044 | 106.34 |
04/25/12 | 1.3226 | 81.37 | 1.97 | 13096 | 104.13 |
06/20/12 | 1.2693 | 79.28 | 1.66 | 12837 | 83.63 |
08/01/12 | 1.2300 | 78.10 | 1.49 | 13028 | 88.98 |
09/13/12 | 1.2895 | 77.43 | 1.72 | 13342 | 97.60 |
10/24/12 | 1.2948 | 79.75 | 1.77 | 13115 | 85.72 |
12/12/12 | 1.3082 | 83.24 | 1.70 | 13325 | 87.13 |
01/30/13 | 1.3584 | 91.16 | 2.02 | 13949 | 97.63 |
03/20/13 | 1.2948 | 95.65 | 1.94 | 14497 | 92.82 |
05/01/13 | 1.3195 | 97.48 | 1.62 | 14740 | 90.47 |
06/19/13 | 1.3364 | 95.76 | 2.23 | 15304 | 98.38 |
07/31/13 | 1.3301 | 97.92 | 2.67 | 15565 | 105.63 |
09/18/13 | 1.3363 | 98.28 | 2.76 | 15606 | 107.01 |
10/30/13 | 1.3764 | 98.18 | 2.48 | 15660 | 97.42 |
12/18/13 | 1.3696 | 103.81 | 2.89 | 16198 | 98.06 |
01/29/14 | 1.3651 | 102.13 | 2.73 | 15719 | 97.23 |
03/19/14 | 1.3918 | 101.75 | 2.71 | 16335 | 99.96 |
04/30/14 | 1.3868 | 102.11 | 2.66 | 16553 | 99.52 |
06/18/14 | 1.3584 | 101.93 | 2.61 | 16892 | 106.12 |
07/30/14 | 1.3372 | 102.84 | 2.51 | 16878 | 101.45 |
08/17/14 | 1.2961 | 107.60 | 2.57 | 17151 | 94.05 |
10/29/14 | 1.2677 | 108.40 | 2.33 | 16956 | 82.51 |
12/17/14 | 1.2409 | 117.58 | 2.11 | 17201 | 57.85 |
01/28/15 | 1.1337 | 117.77 | 1.78 | 17457 | 44.75 |
03/18/15 | 1.0637 | 120.98 | 2.05 | 17733 | 42.49 |
04/29/15 | 1.1164 | 118.67 | 2.05 | 18039 | 59.16 |
06/17/15 | 1.1255 | 124.22 | 2.39 | 17862 | 59.12 |
07/29/15 | 1.1073 | 123.61 | 2.29 | 17720 | 49.17 |
09/17/15
10/28/15 |
1.1334
1.1081 |
120.86
120.50 |
2.26
2.07 |
16778
17687 |
47.01
45.83 |
12/16/15
01/27/16 03/16/16 04/27/16 06/14/16 07/27/16 09/21/16 11/02/16 12/14/16 02/01/17 03/15/17 05/03/17 06/14/17 07/25/17 09/20/17 11/01/17 12/13/17 01/31/18 03/21/18 05/02/18 06/13/18 08/01/18 09/26/18 11/08/18 12/19/18 01/30/19 03/20/19 05/01/19 |
1.0956
1.0874 1.1089 1.1339 1.1205 1.0998 1.1160 1.1099 1.0641 1.0741 1.0638 1.0910 1.1149 1.1735 1.2010 1.1631 1.1815 1.2424 1.2271 1.1963 1.1788 1.1668 1.1765 1.1400 1.1420 1.1415 1.1355 1.1225
|
121.72
118.48 113.70 111.37 106.15 105.65 100.84 103.33 115.37 113.52 114.48 112.47 111.55 111.17 111.34 113.91 112.58 109.31 106.27 109.91 110.38 111.69 112.94 113.88 112.26 109.55 111.42 111.35
|
2.29
2.02 1.99 1.89 1.62 1.53 1.70 1.78 2.45 2.49 2.57 2.30 2.13 2.29 2.24 2.35 2.34 2.73 2.89 2.97 2.96 2.99 3.08 3.23 2.81 2.72 2.57 2.50 |
17583
16002 17217 18013 17675 18461 18151 17989 19915 19890 20885 20920 21375 21711 22376 23405 24585 26259 24839 24095 25309 25310 26543 26195 23881 24841 25727 26662 |
35.95
30.85 37.79 44.89 48.29 41.91 43.44 45.18 51.83 53.33 48.43 47.96 44.71 48.75 50.55 54.24 56.60 64.41 65.00 67.57 66.77 67.62 71.68 60.93 47.80 54.51 59.48 63.88 |
Copyright 2019, Larry Greenberg. All rights reserved. No secondary distribution without express permission.
Tags: FOMC preview