Fed Governor Lael Brainard said the economic outlook is “solid” as supported by consumer spending. However, business spending has been “lackluster” with soft sentiment. And, lower inflation expectations could be entrenched if Fed allows inflation to run below target for too long. And, that would make it even hard for Fed to cushion the next downturn.
She expressed her support for a rate cut as “taking into account the downside risks at a time when inflation is on the soft side would argue for softening the expected path of monetary policy according to basic principles of risk management.”
Though, she added, “of course, my judgment about the actual path of policy will continue to be influenced by the evolution of the data and the risks.”
New Zealand BusinessNZ PMI rose to 51.3, but employment worsened
New Zealand BusinessNZ Performance of Manufacturing Index rose to 51.3 in June, up from 50.4. BusinessNZ’s executive director for manufacturing Catherine Beard said that while the sector avoided further deterioration in activity from May, there were still a number of concerns about manufacturing’s current state of play.
She said: “The key sub-indexes of production (51.0) and new orders (52.8) recovered from May, which ensured the sector didn’t fall into contraction for June. However, employment (48.0) worsened to its lowest level since August 2016, while deliveries of raw materials (48.9) also fell into negative territory for the first time since December 2017, and its lowest result since September 2012.
Full release here.