Fed's Daly: US labor market looks very strong

Working gas in storage was 3,195 Bcf as of Friday, December 31, 2021, according to EIA estimates. This represents a net decrease of 31 Bcf from the previous week. Stocks were 154 ...

tweet at 1:15pm: *Fed's Bullard: Fed May Be Able to Raise Rates in March tweet at 1:15pm: Fed’s Bullard: First rate hike could come as early as March - Subsequent 2022 hikes could be pulled forward or pushed back depending on inflation - FOMC could also elect to allow passive balance sheet runoff tweet at 1:15pm: Fed’s Bullard: Committee took steps at Dec meeting to be in a better position to control inflation - Monetary policy has shifted to combat inflation pressure more directly - Omicron cases expected to subside in the weeks aheadSt. Louis Fed’s Bullard Discusses “The Initial Response to the Inflation Shock of 2021” Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard presented “The Initial Response to the Inflation Shock of 2021” at a meeting of the CFA Society St. Louis on Thursday. Bullard told the society that the U.S. pandemic recession ended 20 months ago, and that U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) has more than fully recovered and labor market performance continues to improve. However, he added that there was a significant unanticipated inflation shock in the U.S. during 2021. “With the real economy strong but inflation well above target, U.S. monetary policy has shifted to more directly combat inflation pressure,” he said. Pandemic risk remains, Bullard added, but omicron variant cases are expected to subside in the weeks ahead. U.S. Real GDP Has Fully Recovered Bullard noted that the U.S. is currently in the expansion phase of the business cycle. “National income is higher than it was at the previous peak and is poised to grow at an above-trend rate,” he said. Bullard added that labor markets are very robust, according to key metrics. He noted that the labor force participation rate (LFPR) is sometimes cited as a relatively weak aspect of current labor market performance. “However, the LFPR has been on a downward trend since 2000 and is not currently unusually low, once the trend is ta