While Wall Street prepares for the prospect of a more aggressive Federal Reserve, Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan has a reassuring message for anxious investors.
Despite Bank of America’s issuing the most hawkish forecast on Wall Street — predicting three interest rate hikes under Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh — Moynihan insists a recession is nowhere in sight.
“The [U.S.] president thought it was going to be rate cuts. Now we’re talking about rate hikes. Will that lead us into a recession?” FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo asked Moynihan on the New York Stock Exchange floor Wednesday.
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“No, because at the end of day, that’s the balance the Fed has to have, is they’re trying to keep the inflation from getting out of control, price stability,” Moynihan responded. “And Chairman Warsh made it clear that’s what he stands for.”
“He’s focused on that, that’s their job. But you also have to be mindful of the other side, which is, recession means unemployment goes up, and you have to stabilize unemployment. So they’ve gotta mind that,” he added. “The U.S. economy is growing better than most. The inflation is higher than people want it to be, but if you talk to people who are in the positions Kevin’s in… they could never get inflation back. They’re sort of saying, ‘Wait, we can never get the economies to recover fast enough.’ I think it’s easier to bring it down carefully than it is to get it going, and so you want to air a little bit to the upside.”
During their latest meeting, the Federal Reserve announced that it would hold interest rates steady due to concerns about elevated inflation amid the war in Iran, as Warsh’s tenure leading the central bank begins in earnest.
Fed policymakers voted 12-0 to leave the benchmark federal funds rate unchanged at its current range of 3.5% to 3.75%. The move follows the central bank’s decisions to hold rates steady in January, March and April after three consecutive 25-basis-point rate cuts in September, October and December of last year.
Moynihan argues that higher interest rates shouldn’t be feared but rather celebrated as a sign of a strong U.S. economy.
“We have a great research team… They’ve also put three Fed raises on the table, meaning that the inflation is going to be stickier, go[ing] all the way through ‘27 into ‘28, largely just to deal with the aftermath of the oil price shock,” the CEO said. “But at the end of day, the economy has grown a little faster now than they thought it was going to grow a few months ago.”
“Inflation will take a while, rates will be higher. But everybody argues for rates to be high or low. At the end of it, rates are an outgrowth of a very strong economy in the United States and a need to keep inflation in check.”
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FOX Business’ Eric Revell contributed to this report.
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