As Business Outlook's Matthew Narvaiz reports in today's issue, Federal Reserve economist Nick Sly discusses that the Fed isn't satisfied with where it is-- 4.2% currently-- and is aiming for 2%. There is no firm word on whether the Fed will continue raising rates and so, markets stay anxious.

After 3 years, Thursday was the official end of the federal COVID public health emergency situation declaration. Those days lag us now, however in lots of ways the dreadful legacy of the pandemic remains. It impacted lives, health and pocketbooks.

It also led to the economy being flooded with money through different aid policies, consisting of stimulus checks. We had a gush of legislation from Washington, from the Coronavirus Preparedness and Response Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2020 to March 2021's American Rescue Plan. There was other supplemental funding, plus state and community programs. Washington sent $804 billion directly to low- and middle-income people and households with three rounds of stimulus payments. All told, we're discussing $5 trillion dollars here, in case anyone wonders where all the cash that was pumped into the economy came from.

Simply put, inflation comes down to too much money chasing too couple of items. The other part of the formula-- too couple of goods-- can be traced to pandemic shutdowns and, later on, supply chain issues-- which brought us to the situation we're in.

The Fed can certainly argue its policies are working, though the resilience of the task market stays an enigma. But that's now revealing kinks in the armor. Recently's unemployed numbers show a jump in brand-new claims for welfare, so yes, the anti-inflation mission may be hitting house.

NM's economy is special, it bears duplicating that the Fed's reach impacts everyone, every state and town and every private consumer. That's because rates impact costs and we're all buying some great or service at any given time. There are other impacts associated with rates of interest, not all of them unfavorable. Bond purchasers, for example, will have greater yields under high rates and notably, because of new bond yields, smaller sized banking organizations have discovered it more difficult to make it through.

Inside This Week's Business Outlook

Have A Look At Matthew Narvaiz's prompt feature on New Mexico's economy. Matthew interviews 3 state economic experts who talk about the concept of a coming economic crisis and try to clear the fog and smoke about the economy.

Need your aid: We're beginning a new function about organization moves, openings and closures. You can assist by emailing with notices of what's occurring with your company or if you happen to see a sign or change while driving by. We will check it out for you. Send your details to bizoutlook@abqjournal.com.

Feel free to email me at jleacock@abqjournal.com.

Up until next week.