US Fed will look beyond market chaos and volatility

Significance

Weak employment data for July fired concerns that the Fed has waited too long to ease monetary policy. Concerns over the US economy had added to worries about a tech-stock bubble and the unwinding of the yen carry trade, roiling global markets.

Impacts

• Japan’s ten-year bond yield fell sharply in the rush to safe assets; this could restrict Japan's scope to raise interest rates further.
• Despite heightened Middle East stress, oil prices have lost 12% in the past month as investors worry more about a sharper global downturn.
• The Fed will focus on inflation and employment in its decision-making, as per its mandate; recent data is supportive of a rate cut soon.