When Federal Reserve chair Jay Powell meets colleagues and counterparts at Jackson Hole this week, investors’ attention will focus on how aggressively he plans to pursue his dual tightening policy.
Fed officials are signalling at least five interest rate rises in the next 15 months. In addition, the steady reduction in the Fed’s still swollen balance sheet continues as the central bank sells off assets acquired since the introduction of quantitative easing in 2009.
Mr Powell’s every word at the end of the retreat, however oblique, will be parsed for meaning by the central banks of the emerging markets. That is because they understand how closely their fates are tied with that of monetary policy in the US.