The Federal Reserve is widely expected to raise its benchmark interest rate again on Wednesday, lifting it above 5% for the first time since 2006 as it works to bring down stubborn inflation.
But doing so risks sending shockwaves through the economy and markets, fanning recession fears and concerns about financial stability amid an ongoing crisis in the banking sector.
"Financial stability is subordinate to the effort to restore price stability" at the moment, Joseph Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM US, told me.
Step back: The Fed has swiftly raised interest rates in a bid to tame inflation, which fell to an annual rate of 5% in March but remains way above its target. Investors expect the central bank will announce another quarter-point increase today before signaling a pause.
That would allow policymakers to assess the consequences of the rate hikes enacted to date, which take time to feed through financial markets and the economy.
The consequences of higher borrowing costs have started to show. The unemployment rate stood at 3.5% in the United States in March. However, job openings that month tumbled to their lowest level since May 2021, according to data released Tuesday. Layoffs jumped by nearly 250,000 to 1.8 million — the highest level since December 2020.
So far, companies have maintained a robust pace of hiring, helping absorb laid-off workers, according to Diane Swonk, chief economist at KPMG. Yet that will change as companies find it harder to access credit, pushing firms to trim investment and costs.
The Fed has predicted the unemployment rate will rise to 4.5% this year and 4.6% next year. That level of joblessness would imply the economy is in recession, Swonk said.
"It's stunning to me that the US economy has been as resilient as it has been," she said. "We also know policy works with a lag, and the worst is yet to come."
Meanwhile, investors are still coming to terms with the rapid run-up in rates, which sparked a huge sell-off in US government bonds and stocks last year.
Banks that failed to adequately prepare have been hammered. The shifting landscape paved the way for the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank in March and First Republic Bank this week.
More pain could be on the way. The commercial real estate sector, which is very sensitive to high interest rates, looks particularly vulnerable — its problems made worse by a glut of empty office buildings in the wake of the pandemic.
The Fed knows it's pushing rates to an uncomfortable level. In many ways, that's the point. The central bank wants to dampen Wall Street's animal spirits and crimp demand for goods and services so inflation returns to a more manageable level and stays there.
But Sheila Bair, the former head of the US Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, told CNN this week she's worried about this aggressive strategy, which could pile undue stress on the banking system and the economy. She's argued for months the Fed needs to take a time-out.
"Hitting pause doesn't mean you're giving up the fight," said Bair, who led the FDIC through the Great Recession. "It just means you're taking a breather and assessing what you've accomplished so far."
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