The Fed Cherry-Picked Its Way to a Rate Cut. Here’s Proof.
A firm rebound in U.S. data has been entirely ignored by central bankers determined to ease policy.
Jerome Powell seems to be ignoring the data.
Photographer: Andrew Harrer/BloombergThe Federal Reserve has resorted to fallacy.
After the central bank’s June meeting, policy makers indicated that the case for easing monetary policy had grown but that they wanted to wait to see further evidence of weakening data before lowering interest rates. U.S.-China trade tensions were certainly a risk, but as Chair Jerome Powell noted on June 25, a week after the central bank’s decision, “the amount of tariffs that are in place right now is not large enough to represent a major — from a quantitative standpoint — threat to the economy. The concern is about confidence and financial market ripple effects.”