7 Jul 2017
Fed: Consumer spending appears to have rebounded recently - MonPol Report
Key highlights from the Federal Reserve's semiannual Monetary Policy Report, which contains discussions of "the conduct of monetary policy and economic developments and prospects for the future:"
- Measures of longerrun inflation expectations have been relatively stable, on balance, though some measures remain low by historical standards
- Consumer spending was sluggish in the early part of the year but appears to have rebounded recently, supported by job gains, rising household wealth, and favorable consumer sentiment
- The FOMC continues to expect that, with gradual adjustments in the stance of monetary policy, economic activity will expand at a moderate pace and labor market conditions will strengthen somewhat further
- The Committee currently expects to begin implementing the balance sheet normalization program this year provided that the economy evolves broadly as anticipated
- Labor market conditions continued to strengthen in the first five months of this year
- Wage growth has been only modest, possibly held down by the weak pace of productivity growth in recent year