Fed’s Jefferson: Enough data for October meeting despite shutdown

Investing.com -- Federal Reserve Vice Chair Philip Jefferson stated on Friday that the central bank will have sufficient information for its October 28-29 meeting, even with delayed government reports due to the ongoing federal shutdown.

Jefferson explained that beyond government data, the Fed relies on "private sector sources, business surveys, household surveys, and it is really the whole constellation of data that impacts my thinking."

"We have enough information to do our job... My expectation is that I’ll be well informed before I go into the October meeting," Jefferson said.

The Fed Vice Chair also addressed several policy matters, noting that removing the word "average" from the Fed’s framework was important because "it was hard to communicate what it meant." He added that running inflation above target to compensate for past misses "turned out to be impractical."

On current economic issues, Jefferson mentioned the Fed is working to understand artificial intelligence’s potential impact on productivity. He also observed that the response to tariffs has been muted so far, though he acknowledged "the price level adjustment will take longer than forecast."

Jefferson emphasized that the Fed’s responsibility is to ensure tariff adjustments don’t translate into persistent inflation. He expressed confidence that the central bank will achieve its 2% inflation target, noting that "long-term inflation expectations are anchored around 2%."

You May Also Be Interested In

• Premarket movers: Deere jumps following upbeat Q3, Wolfspeed plunges
• These 25 S&P 500 stocks saw the largest increase in institutional ownership in Q2
• Etsy upgraded to buy at BofA on durable growth, buyback potential