In this episode of the Top of Mind podcast, Mike Simonsen sits down with Nick Timiraos, Chief Economics Correspondent for The Wall Street Journal, to talk about how the Fed makes its policy decisions and why these decisions are rocking today’s financial and housing markets. Nick tells the story of the Fed’s remarkable odyssey to save the US economy as the pandemic hit, gives an inside look at the Fed’s decision-making mechanics, busts some common myths about the Fed’s intentions for real estate, and offers a glimpse of what might come next.

About Nick Timiraos 

Nick Timiraos is the Chief Economics Correspondent for The Wall Street Journal and is based in Washington. He is responsible for covering the Federal Reserve and other major developments in US economic policy. He’s also the Author of Trillion Dollar Triage: How Jay Powell and the Fed Battled a President and a Pandemic — And Prevented Economic Disaster.

Prior to his current position, Nick covered the Treasury Department, fiscal policy, and broader economic and labor market issues. Before that, he wrote about US housing and mortgage markets as a reporter based in New York. His coverage included the government's response to the foreclosure crisis and the takeover of finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. In 2008, Nick contributed to the journal's presidential election coverage and traveled with the campaign of then-Senator Barack Obama. He joined the journal in 2006 and is a graduate of Georgetown University.

Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:

• The story behind the extraordinary lengths the Fed went to in order to save the US economy as the pandemic hit
• How Fed policy impacted the housing market during the pandemic
• Where the Fed went wrong in 2021
• What the Fed is likely to do with interest rates next year
• What the Fed’s goal for housing actually is
• How to look at the inflation numbers like the Fed to help see future policy decisions now
• How the Fed might embrace new data and more real-time data to make better policy decisions
• Whether the trend of de-globalization will derail or preserve American prosperity
• How the Fed might react to challenges facing the dollar from threats like cryptocurrencies and Bitcoin
• Whether the Fed will step in to help resuscitate the housing market if it crashes too hard in 2023

Featuring Mike Simonsen, CEO of Altos Research

A true data geek, Mike founded Altos Research in 2006 to bring data and insight on the U.S. housing market to those who need it most. The company now serves the largest Wall Street investment firms, banks, and tens of thousands of real estate professionals around the country. Mike's insights on the market have been featured in Forbes, New York Times, Bloomberg, Dallas Morning News, Seattle PI, and many other national media outlets.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Nick Timiraos on LinkedIn
• Nick Timiraos | The Wall Street Journal
• Nick Timiraos on Twitter
• Trillion Dollar Triage: How Jay Powell and the Fed Battled a President and a Pandemic — And Prevented Economic Disaster by Nick Timiraos
• Mike Simonsen on LinkedIn
• Altos Research

Follow us on Twitter for more data analysis and insights:

https://twitter.com/altosresearch

https://twitter.com/mikesimonsen

See you next week!

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