As always, what I have to say today reflects my own views and not necessarily those of the FOMC or the Federal Reserve System. 1 The economic outlook Turning first to the economic outlook, the real GDP growth rate appears to have slowed sharply during the first half of 2015. Based on the revision we received last week, firstquarter real GDP fell by 0.7 percent at an annualized rate. Although most projections anticipate a pickup in growth to around 2 percent or slightly higher in the current quarter, there is little question that economic growth has slowed significantly from last year’s secondhalf pace. What’s going on? Why has growth slowed and what does this portend for the remainder of the year? As I see it, the contraction in GDP growth in the first quarter represents a mix of factors. These include another unseasonably cold and snowy winter, a sharp contraction in oil and gas investment, a deterioration in the trade balance due – in large part – to the stronger dollar and sluggish foreign demand, and a slowdown in consumer spending growth after a very strong fourth quarter. After adjusting for weather effects, I think seasonal adjustment issues probably also played some role. For example, real defense spending has declined eight times in the past nine years in the first quarter, suggesting there is a seasonal adjustment issue. But I judge that this has had only a modest effect on measured real GDP growth.
When the normalization process starts and we raise the target range for the federal funds rate, what should we anticipate? I anticipate a smooth lift-off in terms of the ability of the FOMC to push the federal funds rate up into a higher range. Less clear is what the financial market reaction will be. Will it be more like the turbulent taper tantrum of 2013 in response to Chairman Bernanke’s remarks that we might at some point begin to taper our asset purchases, or the benign response when the FOMC actually tapered in 2014? Let me consider these two issues in turn. I am very confident that the Federal Reserve has the tools in place to ensure that the FOMC can successfully raise the federal funds rate into a new, higher target range when the time comes to do so. This reflects several factors. Most importantly, we have demonstrated that the interest rate paid on banks’ reserve balances (IOER) – which is our primary tool to raise the federal funds rate target – and daily overnight reverse repo (ON RRP) operations – which is a supplementary tool to help put a floor under money market rates – have been effective in keeping the federal funds rate well within the FOMC’s desired target range.