FED: Fedspeak Headlined By Rare Updates From Bowman And Jefferson

Today’s Fedspeak is clearly headlined by permanent voters Bowman and Jefferson, for their first monetary policy relevant updates in three and two months respectively. In our guess of where these core FOMC members sat in the Dec dot plot, we suspect Jefferson was one of four dots at 3.125% for 2026 (i.e. 50bp of cuts) for a notch below the median and assume that Bowman penciled in 2.375% (125bp of cuts) for 2026 with only Miran lower at 2.125%. The media blackout ahead of the Jan 27-28 FOMC meeting then starts on Saturday at 0001ET. 

• 1050ET – Boston Fed’s Collins (next votes 2028) welcoming remarks
• 1100ET – VC Supervision Bowman (voter, dove) on the economic outlook and mon pol (text + Q&A). With her role focused on regulation, these are rare remarks on mon pol having last touched on the rate outlook three months ago. The former hawk turned clear dove, she at the time saw two more rate cuts before year-end in Oct and Dec meetings having in September called for the need to act decisively and proactively in order to protect jobs.
• 1530ET – VC Jefferson (voter) on the economic outlook and mon pol in a keynote address at an AIER conference on “Fed Policy Under Pressure” (text + Q&A). He sounded on the cautious side for prospects of further easing on Nov 17. He highlighted "increased downside risks to employment compared to the upside risks to inflation, which have likely declined somewhat recently" but also that there is a "need to proceed slowly as we approach the neutral rate."