Post FOMC

Bernanke and Company did a quick copy/paste job with the comments from April’s meeting this time around as it appears that both the environment and the way that the Fed plans to improve it will remain unchanged “for an extended period”.

There were no real surprises in the statements. The recent glimmers of hope in the housing market were dismissed by the committee sighting “ongoing job losses, lower housing wealth, and tight credit.” Although the Fed catches some flak from time to time for concentrating too much on unemployment, a lagging indicator, their concerns here are pretty accurate.

On the inflation front – “The prices of energy and other commodities have risen of late. However, substantial resource slack is likely to dampen cost pressures, and the Committee expects that inflation will remain subdued for some time.” This also follows what we have been writing here on the Acropoblog.

Also as expected, the Fed’s securities purchases will be left unchanged.

Cliff J. Reynolds Jr., Junior Analyst