US: Inflation high and sticky; bank tensions ease – ANZ

Analysts at Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) banking group offer a snippet on the state of the US economy in their latest client note.

Key quotes

“Tensions in the US banking sector continue to ease. There has been incrementally less use of the Fed’s emergency lending facilities, while bank lending rose for the first time in three weeks and deposits increased.”

“The minutes to the 2-3 March FOMC meeting showed that all Fed officials agreed to raise the target policy range by 25bp as they weighed up the risks of persistently high inflation and a tightening in credit conditions following a string of bank failures.”

“Core CPI inflation eased in March (0.4% m/m) relative to February (0.5%) as rents came in softer than expected. Even though there was some softening in inflation, it remains well above levels consistent with 2%.”