Powell Gets Good News On Fed’s Favorite Pay Gauge

When it comes to measures of compensation watched closely by Fed officials, and specifically by Jerome Powell, the Employment Cost Index is at the top of the list. Indeed (and as I never tire of reminding readers), it was a sudden acceleration on the quarterly ECI series which, according to his own dramatized retelling, prompted Powell's initial hawkish pivot. That's the context for Q4 ECI, released ahead of the Fed's January decision on Wednesday. I won't bury the lede for a change: It unders