Fed's Goolsbee: Current employment numbers are solid

Eren Sengezer FXStreet

Commenting on April labor market data, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee told Bloomberg TV that it was a solid report with 175,000 new jobs.

Key takeaways

"We hit a bump on inflation at the start of the year."

"I don't like committing even to the next meeting."

"Fed must get comfort that recent inflation is not a sign of reacceleration."

"What happened in the job market this year has to be re-normed based on estimates of higher immigration; still trying to analyze that."

"Monetary policy is restrictive; real federal funds rate is as high as it has been in decades."

"We have to get more comfort on whether the Fed is still on a path to lower inflation."

"If the Fed remains restrictive too long, it will have to think about the employment side of the mandate; but current numbers are solid."

Market reaction

The US Dollar Index recovered from daily lows after these comments and was last seen losing 0.25% on the day at 105.06.

Author

Eren Sengezer

FXStreet

As an economist at heart, Eren Sengezer specializes in the assessment of the short-term and long-term impacts of macroeconomic data, central bank policies and political developments on financial assets.

GBP/USD flirts with tops near 1.3470

GBP/USD manages to regain composure and challenge the area of daily highs around 1.3470 on Friday. Cable picks up pace despite marginal gains in the Greenback in a context of swelling geopolitical tensions and rising global oil prices.

EUR/USD trims losses, back above 1.1500

EUR/USD picks up some pace and bouces off earlier lows, reclaiming the 1.1500 threshold and beyond at the end of the week. The pair’s modest pullback follows a persistent risk-averse market mood and renewed buying interest for the US Dollar.

Gold: The $4,000 mark holds the downside for now

Gold faces renewed selling pressure, falling sharply toweard the $4,000 mark per troy ounce as the US Dollar regains momentum. Escalating US-Iran tensions are keeping inflation concerns and expectations of further Fed rate hikes alive, weighing further on the yellow metal.

Bitcoin eyes 50-day EMA breakout, Ethereum consolidates, XRP steadies

Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple trade near key technical levels on Friday as the broader cryptocurrency market pauses following last week's recovery. BTC is approaching the 50-day Exponential Moving Average while ETH continues to consolidate between two major EMAs.

Warsh needs to restore his reputation

We were glad to see our deeply negative reaction to the Warsh press conference was not some personal peculiarity. Just about everybody in the financial press felt the same way. The consensus is building it’s not the Fed in the dog-house but only Warsh. Today the WSJ changed it tune and blasted Warsh—"the honeymoon is already over..”

9-3: Is the Federal Reserve’s vote tally Warsh's new forward guidance?

The rate did not move. Neither did the statement, and that’s the more interesting fact. Set the July 29 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) statement beside the one issued on June 17, and the two documents are identical apart from a single verb and a paragraph at the bottom naming three dissenters.