Fed President Bullard: Credit tightening won’t trip recession
St. Louis Fed president acknowledged 'financial stress has been on the rise' following bank collapses
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St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard on Thursday dismissed concerns of a credit crunch in reaction to the turmoil in the financial system following the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank and other institutions in recent weeks.
Bullard said he does not expect lending standards to rise to a level that would push the economy into a recession.
"It's too soon to tell what kind of tightening we are seeing," Bullard told reporters following his speech on the economy and monetary policy at the Arkansas State Bank Department's Day with the Commissioner event. However, he said, "credit tightening will not tighten enough to send the U.S. economy in recession."
James Bullard, president and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, delivers a speech at the 2019 Monetary and Financial Policy Conference at Bloomberg's European headquarters in London (Luke MacGregor/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Some economists have expressed concern that the series of high-profile bank failures in recent weeks could severely tighten credit for U.S. households and businesses, taking a toll on economic growth.
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But Bullard said credit tightening would only impact "a portion of a total amount of lending."
The St. Louis Fed president added that it is not clear there will be a significant pullback by banks at this point, noting that lenders will continue to extend credit as long as they have the liquidity to do so.
The Federal Reserve Board building on Constitution Avenue in Washington March 19, 2019. (REUTERS/Leah Millis / Reuters)
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell acknowledged last month upheaval within the financial sector could tighten credit for American households. He suggested stricter lending standards could have a similar effect on inflation that a rate increase can.
"Such a tightening in financial conditions would work in the same direction as rate tightening," Powell said. "You can think of it as being the equivalent of a rate hike or perhaps more than that."
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Powell also said at the time it was too soon to say how banking sector stress will affect the broader economy.
Jerome Powell, chairman of the Federal Reserve, speaks during a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing in Washington, D.C., March 7, 2023. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
"Financial conditions seem to have tightened and probably by more than the traditional indexes say," Powell said. "The question for us, though, is how significant will that be – what will be the extent of it, and what will be the duration of it?
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"We’ll be looking to see how serious is this and does it look like it’s going to be sustained. And, if it is, it could easily have a significant macroeconomic effect, and we would factor that into our policy decisions."
FOX Business' Alexa Angelus contributed to this report.