Five Macroeconomic Questions for 2017
January 12, 2017
Before the Forecasters Club of New York, President James Bullard posed and discussed five key questions: 1) Will the current period of low real (i.e., inflation-adjusted) interest rates on short-term safe assets give way to a period of high real interest rates this year? (2) Will new policies from President-elect Donald Trump’s administration drive the real GDP growth rate higher? (3) Is inflation set to rise? (4) Should the federal funds rate move meaningfully higher this year? and (5) Could the Fed’s balance sheet now be allowed to shrink?