Bloomberg Odd Lots hosts Tracy Alloway and Joe Weisenthal break down Fed Chair Warsh's first Jackson Hole speech. They highlight the explicit PCE mention, remaining reaction-function uncertainty, and Warsh's signal that policy may not be restrictive enough, which drove two-year yields. They also discuss the missing productivity boom and Warsh's unusual focus on AI tokens.
- Warsh's Jackson Hole address was unusually long at around 3,600 words.
- The speech explicitly mentioned Fed attention to PCE inflation, which markets wanted.
- Hosts discuss remaining uncertainty around the Fed reaction function and the subjective 'sufficient speed' inflation language.
- Joe Weisenthal interprets Warsh as saying policy is not restrictive enough and inflation is moving the wrong direction, implying possible rate hikes.
- The two-year Treasury yield moved on the perceived rate-hike signal.
- A productivity boom is seen as a potential deflationary escape, but it is not yet visible in actual data.
- Warsh also spent three paragraphs on AI tokens, seen as a possible factor of production.