Reuters
Marketminds: Okay Fed, show us your hand
A fortnight ago, Federal Reserve chief Jerome Powell offered a glimpse of what was to come at the December Fed meeting by suggesting a tapering of asset purchases would be speeded up. With inflation running at almost four-decade highs, the Fed is expected to end its two-day meeting on Wednesday by accelerating its taper of asset purchases from the current $15 billion monthly pace. The spotlight falls now on the Fed’s ‘dot plot’ of where policymakers see rates headed. For the Bank of England at least, the dilemma is heating up — money market have virtually priced out a rate hike this week after the Omicron outbreak, yet Tuesday’s jobs data and inflation figures just out will make for uncomfortable reading for the bank, with the November price print at a 10-year high of 5.1%.