Newsroom
FOMC members not yet concerned about recession
Members of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) – the Federal Reserve's monetary policy-setting arm – indicated that the labor market has remained strong, though economic activity has slowed since the fourth quarter, according to minutes from the committee's March meeting released Wednesday.
"The FOMC minutes show a committee that believes interest rates are at neutral, or at least close enough," said NAFCU Chief Economist and Vice President of Research Curt Long. "A rate hike in 2019 seems likely to seriously upset financial markets, and this committee appears content to leave things unchanged barring a very compelling reason to intervene. At the same time, the committee is not yet concerned that a recession is approaching."
With regard to the outlook for monetary policy, a majority of FOMC participants believed that the evolution of the economic outlook and risks to the outlook would likely warrant leaving the target rate unchanged for the rest of the year.
The minutes also revealed that participants did not expect spending weaknesses to persist past the first quarter, but that the growth rate of real GDP growth would likely be lower than 2018 due to slower foreign growth and waning effects of fiscal stimulus.
Following the March meeting, the committee left the federal funds target rate at a range of 2.25 to 2.5 percent.
Wednesday's minutes also revealed:
- sustained expansion of economic activity, strong labor market conditions and inflation near the committee's symmetric 2 percent objective are the most likely outcomes over the next few years;
- residential investments softened further in the first quarter after falling in the fourth quarter, due to decreases in housing affordability and rising mortgage interest rates; and
- financing conditions in consumer credit markets were little changed in recent months and remained generally supportive of household spending.
The FOMC will meet again April 30-May 1.
Share This
Related Resources
Add to Calendar 2024-05-03 14:00:00 2024-05-03 14:00:00 Plan Sponsor Attitudes Toward Retirement Plan Management and Fiduciary Outsourcing About the Webinar In January 2024, Pentegra conducted a survey of retirement plan sponsors and their perspectives on retirement plan management and fiduciary outsourcing. The survey measured how sponsors are using fiduciary outsourcing to help better manage their retirement plans. It also captured their perspectives on what outsourcing does to help them better position their plans and drive improved retirement plan outcomes. Key Takeaways: What is the full scope of your responsibilities as a plan sponsor? What is fiduciary outsourcing and how does it work? How does fiduciary outsourcing help reduce workloads and minimize risk? How can a credit union best position its plan to drive improved outcomes? Register Here Web NAFCU digital@nafcu.org America/New_York public
Plan Sponsor Attitudes Toward Retirement Plan Management and Fiduciary Outsourcing
preferred partner
Pentegra
Webinar
Ensuring Safety and Soundness with AI
Management, Consumer Lending, FinTech
preferred partner
Upstart
Blog Post
Turning Lemons into Lemonade: Capitalizing in a Post-Banking Crisis Era
Strategy
preferred partner
Allied Solutions
Blog Post
Add to Calendar 2024-05-02 14:00:00 2024-05-02 14:00:00 Mastering Resilience in Incident Response Plans About the Webinar An Incident Response (IR) plan is crucial for guiding credit unions through major incidents efficiently and effectively. However, many IR plans lack resilience, making them less adaptable to the evolving threat landscape. Join us for our webinar Mastering Resilience in Incident Response Plans where DefenseStorm cyber experts Elizabeth Houser and James Bruhl will delve into the importance of resiliency within cybersecurity IR plans. Don’t miss out on the opportunity to learn how to: Ensure IR plan accessibility so that all team members with assigned roles are prepared for effective incident response. Conduct efficient and regular reviews to ensure roles and responsibilities are current, tools are relevant, and compliance requirements are met. Implement and utilize tabletops to regularly test the effectiveness of your IR plan. Enhance preparedness, efficiency, and confidence among responders. View On-Demand Web NAFCU digital@nafcu.org America/New_York public
Mastering Resilience in Incident Response Plans
preferred partner
DefenseStorm
Webinar
Get daily updates.
Subscribe to NAFCU today.