Northern Trust - Weekly Economic Commentary

Key Points
• Looking Past the Olympic Carnival
I have always wanted to be an Olympian. I wrote my eighth grade term paper on the ancient Olympics, during which governments and armies halted armed conflicts so the competition could take place. I devoured modern Olympic histories, from accounts of Baron de Coubertin’s efforts to revive the Games to the unique stories that emerge every four years. 

• Time to Shift the Monetary Policy Goal Posts?
John Williams, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, recently suggested raising the inflation target of the Federal Reserve from the current 2% to perhaps 4%. In doing so, he joined a small but growing chorus of voices calling for a change in the existing monetary policy framework across the developed world. 

• The Tone from Jackson Hole 
Fed Chair Janet Yellen’s much awaited speech on August 26 had two segments – a short discussion of near-term Fed monetary policy and an extended reflection of longer-term issues. The former is of greater interest for markets.