Fed's Barkin: Watching consumers most closely

Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President Thomas Barkin said on Wednesday that they are watching the consumer activity most closely because that's the biggest part of the economy, per Reuters.

Key takeaways

"Worry if close to a moment where consumers decide to pull back; so far has not happened."

"Biggest thing affect consumer spending is whether they have a job, second is confidence, third is wealth effect."

"Equity market correction isn't what leads to consumer pullback."

"People are pulling back on air travel, but not on every day spending."

"If we see higher inflation and higher unemployment, Fed would handle response with judgment."

"Everyone says they'll pass on cost of higher tariffs, but consumer is also exhausted by higher price."

"When talking about tariffs, need to talk about inflation, but also about employment."

"World doesn't love that Dollar is reserve currency, but there aren't a lot of alternatives."

Market reaction

These comments don't seem to be having a noticeable impact on the US Dollar's valuation against its rivals. At the time of press, the USD Index was down 0.18% on the day at 100.44.