The KBC Bank Research Desk said that they saw from the overnight US Federal Open Market Committee meeting statement that the Federal Reserve is particularly optimistic about the country's economic growth, but given that the negative impact of slowing economic growth in overseas countries has not been fully demonstrated, it is more or less worried about the inflation outlook.
United Bank of Belgium said that FOMC is obviously more optimistic about the outlook for economic growth. The Fed's evaluation of economic activity has gone from a moderate pace to a solid pace, with the wording about employment growth from a stable to a strong one, and the wording on household spending has not changed (moderately increased), but the Fed believes that falling oil prices are boosting consumer purchasing power.
In terms of policy, the Fed still says it can remain patient in normalizing monetary policy. United Bank of Belgium pointed out that this shows that it will not raise interest rates in the next two meetings (March and April).
Belgium United Bank emphasized: "We still believe that FOMC will gradually raise interest rates from June this year, but based on its interest rate hike depends on the data. Therefore, if there is a negative inflation rate and a slowdown in economic recovery, we will adjust the Fed's expectation of the Fed's interest rate hike time."
Belgium United Bank added that the market currently expects the Fed to raise interest rates in January 2016, but it may also be advanced to November or December.
