Williams: June Fed decision will be data dependent

I think someone should put it to the Fed and say, 'okay, what data do we need to watch and how good does it need to be'.

The 'data dependent' refrain is so vague and abused that no one knows what it means. There are at least 100 US economic indicators per month and it's always going to be a mix. If the Fed really wants to be data dependent, they need to do a better job of laying out what matters.

Here's how I'd rank the data the Fed seems to depend on at the moment:

  1. The S&P 500
  2. Non-farm payrolls unemployment rate
  3. Non-farm payrolls jobs gained/lost
  4. Retail sales
  5. Wage growth
  6. Inflation
  7. Business investment
  8. Other employment numbers
  9. Inflation expectations
  10. Consumer sentiment
  11. Manufacturing
  12. Inventories
  13. Housing
  14. Credit