Fed's Miran: Fed policy is too restrictive

*TRUMP ADMIN. BACKS BILL ENDING SHUTDOWN, SAYS TRUMP WOULD SIGN

*BOSTIC: MOVING POLICY LOWER RISKS FEEDING 'INFLATION BEAST' *BOSTIC: LABOR MARKET SHIFTING BUT NOT CLEARLY WEAKENING *BOSTIC: PRICE STABILITY STILL CLEARER, URGENT RISK FACING FED Weighing the Risks: Why Inflation Tips the Scales Thank you for inviting me to be with you. I especially enjoyed the short trip to the venue. At the Atlanta Fed, we are honored to serve as regular host to the Atlanta Economics Club monthly meetings. My staff and I appreciate the work you do to advance the understanding and practice of economics. Before I dive into my remarks, let me remind you that these thoughts are mine and do not necessarily reflect the views of my colleagues on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) or at the Atlanta Fed. Today, I will detail my economic and monetary policy outlook through the lens of the objectives Congress assigned the Federal Reserve: price stability and sustainable maximum employment. Let me set the stage by sharing that I believe that risks to both of the mandated objectives make this the most challenging environment since I became a central banker in 2017. In this moment, we face the difficult circumstances of softening labor market conditions while inflation remains materially above the FOMC's stated 2 percent objective. The unwelcome implication is that reductions in interest rates that normally would mitigate risks to the employment mandate could heighten the risks to the price stability mandate. And vice versa: maintaining moderately restrictive monetary policy, the typical tool in battling inflation, raises the risks to the employment mandate. The job of an FOMC participant is to confront this tension and weigh the trade-offs inherent in determining the appropriate setting for monetary policy. Right now, it is an extremely close call. But I'm going to detail my case that, despite shifts in the labor market, the clearer and urgent risk is still price stability. Let me preface the meat of my talk by noting that we've missed some data releases because of the federal government shutdown. We are not flying blind, however, and I'll discuss some of the alternative information sources guiding my policy thinking right now. Fed's Bostic: I do not view a severe labor market downturn as the most likely near-term outcome.

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MIRAN: SHOULD NOT TAKE INFLATION DATA AS FACE VALUE Fed's Miran: Elevated inflation is due mainly to the measurement process. Fed's Miran: I am in favour of using the Fed's balance sheet more judiciously than it has in the past. MIRAN: QE MAYBE WAS 'OVER-USED' IN PAST