Core inflation cooled and Q2 GDP growth was revised up to 2.2%, but New York Fed President John Williams cracked the central bank's hawkish unity, saying "there is no need for urgency" on further hikes, as consumer confidence sank to an 11-year low of 81.9.
BEA’s annual NIPA update lifted Q2 growth to 2.2% while leaving core PCE stuck at 3.0% year over year, a cooler print that still sits a full point above the Fed’s 2% target. Source
Wednesday's data dump looked, at first glance, like the soft landing the Federal Reserve has been promising for two years. Inflation cooled, growth got revised up, and corporate profits climbed. But the day's most consequential event wasn't a number at all. It was New York Fed President John Williams telling an audience in Buffalo that after September's rate increase, "there is no need for urgency." That's the first on-record crack in what has otherwise been a unified hiking front since July.
