Skip to content
Subscriber Only
Markets
Odd Lots

Ed Harrison Explains What the Fed Is Really Trying to Accomplish

Can the Fed really achieve the mythical "soft landing?"

Jerome Powell, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, speaks during a news conference following a Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, May 4, 2022. The Federal Reserve today raised interest rates by the steepest increment since 2000 and decided to start shrinking its massive balance sheet.
Jerome Powell, chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve, speaks during a news conference following a Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, May 4, 2022. The Federal Reserve today raised interest rates by the steepest increment since 2000 and decided to start shrinking its massive balance sheet.Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg

Listen to Odd Lots on Apple Podcasts
Listen to Odd Lots on Spotify

Inflation is too high, and the Federal Reserve has started on an aggressive hiking path in order to tame it. But will these hikes really accomplish anything? After all, the Fed can't print more oil or housing. So what is the central bank's real goal here? On this episode we speak with Edward Harrison, a senior reporter on the Bloomberg markets team, and the author of the 'The Everything Risk' newsletter. He explains how the Fed sees the challenge at hand, what rate hikes are supposed to do, and the odds of it all actually working out as planned.

Ed Harrison Explains What the Fed Is ...