Source: Wall Street Journal
Those are the questions for entering 2024. The importance of interest rates to the global economy in general, and to our clients in particular, cannot be stressed enough (ha-ha.) And last year was a bumpy road trip chasing the elusive soft landing with the kids screaming in the backseat: “Are we there? Are we there?”
It is therefore not surprising that all bloodshot eyes and hungover minds have been on data clues this week. The most notable tea leaves so far were the FOMC minutes from the Fed’s December meeting and they weren’t that notable because even within the committee they cannot agree on which color glasses to wear.
Some committee members think it has to hurt more before they cut. Others are afraid not cutting at an unspecified point in the not too distant future will hurt too much.
So, the short answer remains: “We don’t know,” and the slightly longer: “We don’t know, yet.”
Regitze Ladekarl, FRM, is FRG’s Director of Company Intelligence. She has 25-plus years of experience where finance meets technology.