Economic wrap for the US: Yellen getting hawkish? - Westpac

Analysts at Westpac offered an economic wrap for the US session.

Key Quotes:

"Fed Chair Yellen’s address at the Jackson Hole symposium was notable for explicitly mentioning rate hikes: "the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has strengthened in recent months". However, that was balanced by: "Our decisions always depend on the degree to which incoming data continues to confirm the Committee's outlook." The inclusion of the word strengthened was new to the Fed’s policy outlook and indicated a hawkish shift, but markets didn’t really believe it until VC Fischer spoke to CNBC. He said Yellen’s message was consistent with a rate hike in September (data-dependant, of course), saw evidence that the economy had strengthened during the past three months, and pointed to next week’s payrolls report as an important gauge of that strength.

US Q2 GDP was confirmed at a 1.1% annualised pace in Q2, as expected, from the 1.2% previous estimate. This was driven by weaker net exports and inventories, while personal consumption was strong.