Fed's Barkin: Positive outlook for 2025, no need to take previous restrictive measures

Odaily Odaily News: Federal Reserve Chairman Barkin said in a prepared speech that his baseline outlook for 2025 is positive: "I expect more upside than downside for economic growth." He added that expectations for economic expansion may be the reason for the recent rebound in business optimism. Part of the reason for his optimism about the economic outlook is that he believes that the momentum of consumer spending is likely to keep the economy growing healthily in the coming months. "With business optimism high and the labor supply unlikely to continue to grow so strongly, the current labor market balance is more likely to move in the direction of hiring rather than layoffs," Barkin said. He also predicted that the more cost-conscious consumers that have emerged in recent months will put pressure on businesses to limit price increases, which should continue to hold down inflation. But he also pointed out that inflation has not returned to the Fed's 2% target: "We still have more work to do, but we don't think we need to take restrictive measures as before to get the job done." (Jinshi)