from Zero Hedge
The most amusing moment of today’s Janet Yellen press conference occured when none other than Steve Liesman asked Yellen a question, one which he may regret as it is dangerously close to “Pedro da Costa” territory, which goes to the heart of the matter: “does the Fed have a credibility problem?”
The question goes to the Fed’s self-described role of being “data-dependent”, because if the Fed indeed adhered to the data, it would be hiking right now: it’s latest forecast sees long-term unemployment of 4.7-5.0%, right where the official unemployment rate is currently, while the Core PCE of 1.7% is already higher than the high range of the Fed’s 2016 year end forecast of 1.4%. In light of this data, it makes no sense for the Fed not to be hiking, and certainly makes no sense to be reducing the number of expected rate hikes in 2016 from four to two.