One new phrase jumped out in the Fed's new statement
On Thursday, the Federal Reserve kept its benchmark interest rates pegged at 0%-0.25%, where they've been since December 2008.
So, effectively, not much has changed.
But there was one new phrase that jumped out in the latest statement that wasn't in the previous statement:
"The Committee continues to see the risks to the outlook for economic activity and the labor market as nearly balanced, but is monitoring developments abroad."
When it comes to the Fed's decisions, generally, its main concern is the US economy. So often times, we don't hear much about there thoughts on what's going on overseas.
However, it looks like this time around, things are a tad different as what's happening abroad is materially affecting businesses that make up the US economy.
Over the summer, China has been front and center with its volatile stock market, its newly devalued currency, and its slowing economic metrics.And US businesses are speaking up as reported by the the Beige Book, the Fed's collection of business anecdotes from across the US.
"Relative to the last FOMC meeting (in June), US data have provided no smoking gun in either direction. But new axes of uncertainty are emerging," writes UBS strategist Themos Fiotakis. "Market volatility and risks to growth associated with the economic slowdown in China. 'China' was a frequent reference in the Beige Book of economic conditions prepare for the September meeting."
As seen in the chart to the right, the spike in the number of China references in September's Beige Book is a quite noticeable.
In any case, it looks like the Fed is now keeping its eye on one more thing.