Is the Fed signaling more rate increases ahead?
Core argument: Markets, as gauged by Bloomberg World Interest Rate Probabilities, have braced for three more Fed hikes, against an implied peak below 4% when Warsh took office in May.
The key was what Warsh didn’t say, rather than what he did. There was no suggestion that this was a one-off. Instead, he said the FOMC has “removed a dose of accommodation” — not all of it, implying the rate was still accommodative and that there would be more doses in the prescription. He added that the hike “starts to show we’re serious about this.” If that was only a start to the seriousness, the direct implication is to brace for more. As a result, the market priced in a lot of tightening. Implicit fed funds rates, as gauged by the Bloomberg World Interest Rate Probabilities, were projected to peak below 4% when Warsh took office in May — at a point when the market had already had time to adjust to the energy shock from the Iran war. Expectations crept up a bit by the time he spoke at Jackson Hole; and since then the market has braced for three more hikes before the Fed is done.

