james bullard president of federal reserve bank of st louis at the jackson hole economic symposium in moran wyoming us on thursday aug 22 2019 this report is from todays cnbc daily open our new international markets newsletter cnbc daily open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know no matter where they are like what you see you can subscribe here  looking at the january figures the us economy is firing on all cylinders a quick recap the lowest unemployment rate in 53 years a rebound in consumer spending despite higher prices and overnight we found out that the producer price index rose the most in eight months this almost bizarrely strong economy implies that inflation while still falling remains uncomfortably high and sticky for a while it seemed as if markets could live with that and even embrace it as a new normal in which economic growth can exist comfortably with inflation higher than 2 with each hotterthanexpected inflation report markets rose until yesterday markets finally caved in the dow jones industrial average fell 126 the sp 500 lost 138 and the nasdaq composite dropped 178 it shouldnt be a surprise to see the market take a breather as hopes of a dovish fed in the coming months fade said mike loewengart head of model portfolio construction at morgan stanley indeed its not just that federal reserve doves might be fluttering away its that the hawks are swooping in markets had widely anticipated and priced in 25 basispoint interest rate hikes for the feds next two meetings yesterday that forecast was badly shaken st louis federal president james bullard said thursday that he was an advocate for a 50basispoint hike and … argued that we should get to the level of rates the committee viewed as sufficiently restrictive as soon as we could cleveland fed president loretta mester echoed bullards hawkishness saying she wants higher rate increases neither mester nor bullard vote this year on the federal open market committee but their sentiments could signal a fed increasingly determined to strangle inflation subscribe here to get this report sent directly to your inbox each morning before markets open