Peter's Blog

The Federal Open Market Committee left its target range for the federal-funds rate unchanged at 3.50 to 3.75 percent on July 29, opting for continuity even as price pressures refuse to cool. The 9-3 vote, only Chairman Kevin Warsh’s second FOMC meeting as chairman, preserves a policy mix that pairs flat rates with what officials […]

In his first appearance before the House Financial Services Committee on July 14, new Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh took a firm stance, telling lawmakers that the central bank has “no tolerance for persistently elevated inflation.” Warsh confirmed that June’s Federal Open Market Committee meeting left the federal-funds-rate target unchanged at 3.50 to 3.75 percent, […]

The Federal Reserve’s July Monetary Policy Report, delivered to Congress last week, describes an economy running hotter than officials would like even as growth cools at the edges. Total personal-consumption-expenditure (PCE) prices are up 4.1 percent over the past twelve months, and the core gauge sits at 3.4 percent, both well above the central bank’s […]

The Federal Open Market Committee’s minutes from its June 16 and 17 meeting, released this week, add detail to a decision markets absorbed weeks ago: the Committee held its target range at 3.50 to 3.75 percent by a unanimous vote. That unanimity, however, masked real disagreement underneath. A few participants told colleagues they saw a […]

Peter recently joined Peter Gadsdon from the Mining Network to discuss a grab-bag of issues, from the latest showdown between the Fed and the White House to why gold is still the best hedge against a weakening dollar. He walks listeners through recent inflation readings — including the CPI for December — and ties those […]

In a hotly-anticipated announcement, the Federal Open Market Committee shaved its federal-funds target by another quarter point on December 10th, setting the range at 3.50 – 3.75 percent. Fed officials insist the U.S. economy is still expanding at a “moderate pace,” yet the same statement concedes that job gains have cooled and unemployment inched higher […]

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller told the Society of Professional Economists in London Monday night that he backs another 25-basis-point cut at the December FOMC meeting, calling the move “additional insurance” against a slowing labor market. His speech, delivered barely a month after a 43-day U.S. government shutdown halted many official releases, leaned heavily on […]

To the relief of many market-movers, last week the FOMC voted to cut rates for the second time this year and announced that the Fed will begin maintaining its balance sheet starting in December. With this return to easy-money, Powell and the Fed are again attempting to paper over economic fault-lines created by their own […]

Peter joined Fox Business on Wednesday to comment on the Fed’s newest rate cut and analyze the central bank’s precarious position going into the holidays. As with the last rate cut, Peter criticizes loosening monetary policy when inflation is far from under control, and he explains why the bond market isn’t going to play nice […]

Last week, the Fed cut interest rates by 25 basis points, the first cut since December. While it claims to be responding to economic conditions, the Fed is really just catering to political and financial elites, who’ve been pressuring the central bank for months. The following article was originally published by the Mises Institute. The […]