Thursday, September 1, 2011

New talk on inflation target

QE2 is done so now what? There is growing talk of an inflation target for the Fed, but this has some interesting implications. CPI is up to 3.6% on a YOY basis with the latest numbers. The CPI ex food and energy is still at 1.5% which is below what has been the previous target of 2.0%. The CPI is not the usual measure used by the Fed as their preferred inflation measure but it is what many still look to as a benchmark. Perhaps there should be a movement to a higher target as a way to get money to move out of cash. A 4% target? A higher target may be a simple way to get movement of asset flows in the US economy.

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