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Home > Former President Jim Bullard > Speeches, Presentations and Commentary

From the President

Three Themes for Monetary Policy in 2019
February 7, 2019
Presentation (pdf) | Press Release
Speaking at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard
discussed three themes for monetary policy this year:
• The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) may miss its 2 percent in�ation target on
the low side for the eighth consecutive year in 2019 based on current readings of
market-based in�ation expectations.
• Labor markets have been performing well, but the feedback from labor markets to
in�ation has weakened considerably in the last two decades.
• The Treasury yield curve has �attened signi�cantly, and a meaningful and sustained
inversion would send a bearish signal for the U.S. economy.
“Market-based signals such as low market-based in�ation expectations and a threatening
yield curve inversion suggest that the FOMC needs to tread carefully going forward,” Bullard
said. “Through its normalization program, the FOMC has already been suf�ciently preemptive over the last two years to contain upside in�ation risk.”