Financial Women of San Francisco Host SF Federal Reserve President John Williams in Inaugural 2018 Economic Outlook

FWSF Event, February 2  |  The City Club, San Francisco, CA

By Lauren West, FWSF Co-Chair, Social Media

Financial Women of San Francisco’s first signature event of 2018, featuring San Francisco Federal Reserve President John Williams giving us his economic outlook, was a well attended gathering at the historic City Club.

It was an incredible honor to have Dr. Williams speak to the uniqueness of the current economic environment. Williams predicted growth to be around 2.5% in 2018. Fueling the key tailwinds propelling this growth are stronger, better-than-expected global growth, tax cuts, and favorable financial conditions.

In his speech, Williams discussed his focus on the dual mandate rules: maximum unemployment and price stability. “We are doing very well… ” he said, “The last time we saw unemployment this low was in the year 2000.” Inflation has stayed below the 2% objective and the Fed is “very focused” on getting inflation up to target.

Although U.S. stocks have had a tumultuous start to the month and volatility has been a theme across almost all major assets classes over the past 10 days, Williams remained upbeat and “incredibly positive.” Williams indicated the Fed will stick to its plan for “steady, gradual” interest rate increases despite market volatility and strong data on U.S. wage growth (CNBC). Such market gyrations have not fundamentally changed his outlook on inflation inching higher to a 2% watermark or unemployment falling further.

Dr. Williams is a true visionary who in the past has also commented on inclusion in the workforce, stating that “until we advance our diversity and inclusion efforts, we are all missing enormous opportunities to expand our horizons, our visions, our labor pool, and ultimately our success, both for our organizations and society.”

A special thank you to our visionary and benefactor sponsors: KPMG, Schwab, Oracle, Chevron, McKesson, Wells Fargo and Bank of the West for their contributions and attendance at the 2018 Economic Outlook luncheon.

Read more: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/08/fed-wont-overreact-to-good-economic-news-williams-says.html

___________________

FWSF has other exciting events coming up. Check out our Events Calendar  https://financialwomensf.org/events/.

Also, we are always looking for attendees who want to provide a summary of the event. If you volunteer, you can attend free of charge. Contact Anne Evers, VP MarComm, if interested: anne@aeversco.com