speeches · May 16, 2022
Regional President Speech
James Bullard · President
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From the President
Bullard Discusses U.S. Economy, In�ation and Monetary
Policy
May 17, 2022
St. Louis Fed President Jim Bullard discussed his outlook for the U.S. economy and the need to
bring in�ation down to the Fed’s 2% target. During an event hosted by the Energy Infrastructure
Council in West Palm Beach, Fla., he also shared his views on recent monetary policy and further
anticipated moves.
On the real economy, Bullard said that he is expecting above trend growth in the U.S. over the
next 18 months, although he acknowledged that there are risks to growth, such as what will
happen with the European and Chinese economies. He also noted that U.S. labor markets are
strong.
Citing recent remarks by Fed Chair Jerome Powell, Bullard said that in�ation is the Federal Open
Market Committee’s No. 1 concern and that the FOMC is going to bring in�ation back down to
2%, which means raising interest rates.
Bullard noted that the FOMC has raised the policy rate twice this year (by 25 basis points in
March and by 50 basis points in May) and that further anticipated increases are already priced
into �nancial markets.
“I think we have a good plan for now, and I think the base case is good,” he said, adding that Chair
Powell has said it looks like the FOMC is on course for 50-basis-point increases at coming
meetings.
Bullard also discussed the FOMC’s plan for reducing the size of the Fed’s balance sheet, saying
that, all else equal, it should put upward pressure on the longer end of the yield curve. He said
some of that has already occurred, with the 10-year Treasury yield and 30-year mortgage rate up
substantially, and he expects to see more upward pressure on longer-term yields going forward.
Watch the discussion.
Cite this document
APA
James Bullard (2022, May 16). Regional President Speech. Speeches, Federal Reserve. https://whenthefedspeaks.com/doc/regional_speeche_20220517_james_bullard
BibTeX
@misc{wtfs_regional_speeche_20220517_james_bullard,
author = {James Bullard},
title = {Regional President Speech},
year = {2022},
month = {May},
howpublished = {Speeches, Federal Reserve},
url = {https://whenthefedspeaks.com/doc/regional_speeche_20220517_james_bullard},
note = {Retrieved via When the Fed Speaks corpus}
}