In this edition of Central Bank Watch, we’ll review comments and speeches made by various Federal Reserve policymakers in the week ahead the communications blackout window around the January Fed meeting ended. The blackout started on Saturday, January 15, leaving financial markets without any significant policy cues for nearly two weeks.
REMARKS BEFORE COMMUNICATION BLACKOUT
The volatility seen in US equity markets over the past two weeks is rather remarkable, insofar as it has been spurred by speculation by how quickly the Federal Reserve will normalize policy – without any clear indications from FOMC policymakers themselves about how quickly that process with transpire. To wit, the US S&P 500 is down over -9% since the Fed’s communication blackout window began.
