Coal in the Fed’s stocking last year turned to sugar plums in 2023

The U.S. Federal Reserve started 2023 on a grim note, with staffers calling a recession "plausible," and policymakers penciling in growth near stall speed and rising unemployment as the costs of quashing inflation with rapid-fire interest rate increases. But it ends with the Fed registering faster-than-expected progress on inflation that occurred with virtually no rise in the jobless rate and an economy that grew fully five times faster than the 0.5% policymakers anticipated a year ago. “We were very fortunate,” over the course of the year, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic told Reuters last week.