Good morning, everyone. Earlier today the federal open Market Committee announced a onehalf percentage point reduction in the target range for the federal funds rate, bringing that range to 1 to 1 1 4 percent. My colleagues and i took this action to help the u. S. Economy keep strong in the face of new risks to the Economic Outlook. The fundamentals of the u. S. Economy remain strong. The unemployment race has been near half century lows. The pace of job gains have been solid and wages have been rising, underpinning solid Household Spending which has been the key driver of Economic Growth over the last year. At the time of our meeting in january, prospects for continued Economic Growth remained favorable and we judged that Monetary Policy was wellpositioned to support that outlook. Since then, the spread of the coronavirus has brought new challenges and risks. The virus has afflicted many communities around the world and our thoughts and prayers go out to those who have been harmed. Th
Reelection this last time, he announced that he has parkinsons disease. Johnny isakson has legislated, as has been mentioned, with his heart. When we worked on skin cancer, he talked about his skin cancer. When we worked on an opioids response act, he talked about his familys loss because of an opioids overdose. And hes not been afraid to stick his neck out. There was a time during the atlanta olympics when one of the county commissions passed a resolution saying gays arent welcome at the olympics. Senator isakson said he wasnt a senator then the bill of rights does not have an asterisk in it. The bill of rights is for everyone. And as his comments about john lewis would reflect, Johnny Isakson was willing to speak out sponsor civil rights in the south when not everybody was. I often think that members of the United States senate are generally men and women who once sat in the front row of their First Grade Class with their hand up hoping that the teacher would call on them. These aren
Dissents was back in 2016 when there was a vote of no change, they wanted to hike. The projections show a very divided Federal Reserve. Seven fomc members forecast a third cut this year. That is one more from where we are now. That would bring the rate down to 1. 63 or the average rate. Five members see no need for any cuts at all. They didnt even want the one today. If everybody had a vote. Not all the members vote it would have been five dissents from today if they voted that way and five more forecast just the one cut this year. Put it all together and do all the imagine. The median is at this is it in terms of cuts thats the median of the funds rate forecast for the Federal Reserve. That said, the plurality does see one more cut coming which is seven, does it include the chairman we dont know. Thats going to be important now, the fed also lowered the interest on excess reserves, and another administrative rate in order to atept to get ahold of the fed funds rate, which as weve been
The ftse 100 is dipping into negative territory. Switch up the board. Here is the yellen scorecard ahead of that speech. What a run it, has been on over the last few days. It keeps climbing. Yields for a look bit lower by two basis points at 1. 86 . Is fascinating. We have a little history of what we might hear. Is speaking in singapore and talking about the dow plot. He said today that he thinks it is still a good idea to have the dot plot. He wants to wait and see if it wasnt a mirage. Jonathan i find it fascinating that Monetary Policy has been reduced to some dots on a piece of paper. Anchor i understand what you are saying. You caught up on the latest headlines with your numbered first world ms. Bloomberg first world news. The government has and access to data on an iphone used by terrorist. The government compelled apple to help. Police say a man was shot after pulling out a gun outside the u. S. Capital. Good in pretty condition. They believe the man acted alone. The suspect has
Putting Jeremy Corban in as their leader. Looking forft and radical economic changes there. The dax in germany is 15 points lower now, just under. 2 . Everybody watching the dollar. The dollar index is lower this morning by just. 1 . The u. S. Trade weighted dollar is something we need to teac kep an eye on. The fiveyear going for 1. 5 percent once you rounded off. The twoyear is at 71 basis points. Topping the list of things were watching today, volatility. The vix fell. Volatility lower this morning despite the fed ahead. Congress is back trying to find a way not to shut down the government in two weeks. Last shutdown hit the economy hard. China, more weak economic data. Credit is growing there. Tom sees may be tiny green shoot out there . Tom yes. A little bit of a green shoot. What an ugly win for the Denver Broncos. That was terrible. We enjoyed the mets, and still managed to pull things out. Wonderful worda for our sponsors and then i will pull up a chart. Bloomberg surveillance