Bloomberg reported today that the Federal Reserve expects to hold rates steady through 2023 until inflation reaches 2% in effort to help the economy recover from the pandemic. Fed Chair Jerome Powell and other Fed officials have stated in recent weeks that a full recovery is highly dependent on further fiscal stimulus to support jobs and income, and on Wednesday the Fed committed to using its “full range of tools” to support the economic recovery:
While the economy has staged a sharp (albeit partial) recovery following the severe lockdown-induced downturn, the path forward for both the economy and markets hinges on several factors, with the development of a COVID-19 vaccine and the 2020 elections being two of the more prominent ones. As always we will continue to monitor and incorporate these developments into our investment outlook and update you accordingly.