By Howard Schneider
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Federal Reserve officials may still be fighting a war against inflation, but they nevertheless opened the door at their May meeting to the possibility that interest rates won't have to rise any further from the current 5% to 5.25% range.
They will now have until June 14 to choose whether to walk through that door, with key data on jobs, inflation, credit conditions and the health of the banking system over the next six weeks informing the decision, public comments from Fed officials shaping the debate, and analysts already looking for clues.
Here's a guide to what's ahead:
JOBS: May 5 release, next release June 2
April jobs growth came in stronger than expected, with the economy adding 253,000 positions across a broad set of industries, and wage growth remaining at a strong 4.4% annual rate. The Fed will get a second dose of jobs data on June 2, covering May, before its June 13-14 policy meeting. Employment gains, from the Fed's perspective, have been unsustainably strong, with officials looking for the pace of monthly job creation to slow or even turn negative, and "softness" in the labor market seen as part of what's needed to lower inflation. Continued results like the ones seen in April could weaken the case for pausing rate hikes.
(Graphic: Payroll growth remains strong - https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-FED/JOBS/byvrjgewnve/chart.png)
(Graphic: Average hourly earnings growth - https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-FED/JOBS/myvmnzoaapr/chart.png)
INFLATION: Next release May 10
The Fed also gets a bonus month of information on prices this time with Consumer Price Index data for April and May in hand for the next Federal Open Market Committee meeting, though the May report will only arrive on the day the meeting starts. For the Personal Consumption Expenditures price index, the measure used to set the Fed's 2% inflation target, only the April report will be available. But the two track each other to some degree, and the Fed will look for confirmation in all of the reports that the pace of price increases is continuing to slow, even if the progress is tepid. All key price indexes are currently increasing at more than double the Fed's target.
(Graphic: Rates and inflation - https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-FED/INFLATION/gkvlgnaywpb/chart.png)
RETAIL SALES: Next release May 16
Fed officials at this point give a textbook economics explanation for inflation, blaming it on a mismatch between supply and demand. Regardless of which side of the equation is more to blame, monetary policy at least in the short run works to curb spending. Officials will watch things like retail sales closely to see if households are pulling back, which should force companies to become more competitive on price.
(Graphic: Monthly retail sales - https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-FED/RATES/klvygjxjlvg/chart.png)
JOB OPENINGS: Next release May 31
The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS, became an important series for the Fed during the pandemic for its insight on labor market dynamics, including the rate at which workers are quitting - a sign of employee leverage and tight markets - and the number of open jobs - a sign of company demand for employees. Fed Chair Jerome Powell paid particular attention to last year's record high of two open jobs for each unemployed jobseeker, a pandemic-era peculiarity that has been easing.
(Graphic: Unemployed to job openings More jobs than jobseekers in the US - https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-FED/JOBS/egvbkmeoepq/chart.png)
BANK DATA: Weekly releases Thursday and Friday
To some degree the Fed wants credit to become more expensive and less available. That's how increases in its benchmark policy interest rate influence economic activity. But it doesn't want financial conditions to tighten more than necessary, and recent bank failures threatened both broader stress in the industry and a worse-than-anticipated credit crunch. Weekly data on bank lending to customers, and Fed lending to banks, will be watched for signs of instability or overly restrictive lending.
(Graphic: Overall bank credit - https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-ECONOMY/BANKS/jnvwyjlokvw/chart.png)
(Graphic: Fed lending to banks - https://www.reuters.com/graphics/USA-FED/RATES/myvmoqdwevr/chart.png)
FEDSPEAK: Ongoing
The Fed's internal communications rules set a "blackout" period around each policy meeting. The curtain of silence around the May meeting lifts on Friday, May 5, and Fed officials can speak publicly about their views through Friday, June 2.
St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, May 5:
Bullard said he was ready to keep an "open mind" on whether to raise rates in June. "I am willing to be data dependent and not prejudge...It is impressive that we moved above the 5% benchmark."
Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee, May 5:
"We know that credit conditions like the ones we are seeing now in the past have been correlated with recessions, credit crunches," Goolsbee told Fox News. "It's way too premature to know what to do with monetary policy."