Hawkish Easing A Divided Fed Navigating Stagflation Amidst Threats to its Independence

“In the near term, risks of inflation are tilted to the upside, and risks to employment to the downside. A challenging situation,” said Jerome Powell at December’s FOMC meeting. At the meeting, Jerome Powell delivered a 25 basis point cut to the federal funds rate and promised monthly Reserve Management Purchases amounting to $40 billion, with a hawkish…