The wait is over. In Jackson Hole, the Federal Reserve's annual Symposium in the Grand Teton National Park in Wyoming, Janet Yellen, president of the Fed, confirmed the expectations of markets and investors. No shock announcements on US monetary policy or outlook, but a direct warning to Donald Trump and intentions to simplify and liberalize financial transactions that no one present at the summit missed.
Expectations now move to the words of Mario Draghi, who will give his speech tonight at 21.00 (Italian time). But also the governor of the European Central Bank, according to forecasts, should prefer caution and wait-and-see attitude, at least until the next major meeting to be held in two weeks.
Five main topics of the summit that began yesterday with the arrival of central bankers: growth, low inflation, possible speculative bubble on the markets, strong euro and, of course, monetary policies (tapering and quantitative easing).
The number one of the Fed, perhaps in her last Jackson Hole given the expiry of her mandate at the beginning of 2018 (it will be up to Donald Trump to decide whether to confirm her in her place or not) talks about a “substantially” safer financial system, stating that any changes to the rules established in the post-financial crisis period should be "modest". A comment that seems directly addressed to the US President and his intentions to loosen the rules on finance to meet the demands of Wall Street. The tenant of the White House over the past 10 months has repeatedly criticized the Dodd-Frank Act (the set of rules introduced to limit the speculation of credit institutions) which, according to him, would have reduced the efficiency of Wall Street and slowed down the growth of the USA.
The results of the policies decided to date, Yellen indirectly replies, have instead brought about "substantial progress" which has made it possible to achieve maximum employment and price stability, i.e. the two main objectives pursued by the US central bank.
The Governor of the Federal Reserve therefore does not seem to worry about his failure to reappoint next January and is going in the opposite direction to that undertaken by Trump: "The reforms have strengthened our financial system and with the support of monetary policy and other interventions credit is available on good terms, and lending has increased in line with economic activity over the next few years, contributing to today's strong economy. “In parallel – she continued – the reforms have increased the resilience of the financial system. Banks are safer, their capacity to absorb losses is greater. Annual stress tests have led to improvements in capital positions and risk management processes. The financial system is more resilient and better prepared to absorb rather than amplify adverse shocks. But there is still work to be done."
Despite everything, according to Yellen, it is necessary to continue to keep a close watch on the financial stability of the United States of America. “Any regulatory review should be modest and maintain the improvement in the resilience of large dealers and banks associated with the reforms enacted in recent years”.
"We cannot be sure that there will not be new crises" - added the chairwoman - "but if we remember the damage that the last one has created and act accordingly, we can hope that the financial system and the economy will experience fewer crises and they will recover faster saving families and companies from the difficulties of 2008”.
