The Federal Reserve will remain on hold for the rest of this year despite an increasing belief on Wall Street that policymakers should throttle back the stimulus they’re providing to the U.S. economy, according to the latest CNBC Fed Survey.
Respondents to the survey forecast the Fed won’t reduce its $120 billion of asset purchases until January, three months later than predicted in CNBC’s March survey. And the first rate hike won’t come until December 2022, survey respondents said.
Yet 68% of the 34 respondents say the Fed does not need to make those asset purchases to help the market function and 65% say the Fed doesn’t need to do them to help the economy. More than half — 56% — say the Fed should respond to the massive fiscal stimulus from the Biden administration by cutting back asset purchases and raising rates sooner.
“While it is appropriate for the Fed to not comment on fiscal policy, it is entirely appropriate for monetary policy to take significant fiscal policy shifts into account in calibrating the stance of monetary policy, but the Fed is not doing this,” wrote John Ryding, chief economic advisor at Brean Capital. “Monetary policy looks set to be too easy for too long.”
