National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU) Chief Economist Curt Long issued the following statement today in response to the Federal Open Market Committee’s July meeting minutes.
“The FOMC minutes continue to reflect divisions within the committee. The constant refrain of 'data dependency' from Fed officials loses its meaning when there is no consensus on what the data means, much less which policy course is warranted,” said Long. “Nevertheless, it seems safe to say that many of the committee’s fears were alleviated with the strong June jobs report and by Brexit’s lack of impact on financial markets. With inflationary pressures yet to emerge, the Fed seems happy to play the waiting game as far as rate normalization is concerned. As a result, we anticipate no rate hike until December or later.”