TOKYO – For a central bank with such a fabled research apparatus, the US Federal Reserve sure is missing some big clues that the US economy is stalling.
Minutes of the December Fed policy meeting show officials warned in unusually blunt terms that markets should not doubt their determination to curb inflation with even higher interest rates.
Fair enough. Investors sometimes misread Fed thinking. It works both ways, though, with US central bankers occasionally missing or misdiagnosing cracks in financial markets that lead to deeper economic dislocations.
It happened in 2007-08 back when Ben Bernanke held the Fed’s reins. Is current Chairman Jerome Powell now making a similar mistake as bond markets quake?
Count Larry Fink among those wondering how the Fed is overlooking clear signs of economic stress. “We’re going to enter a period of more what I call malaise,” says the CEO of BlackRock, the world’s…
