that high and rising federal debt can, in the longer term, restrain private investment and, thereby, reduce productivity and overall economic growth. putting the federal budget on a sustainable path would aid the long - term vigor of the u. s. economy and help ensure 2 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches that policymakers have the space to use fiscal policy to assist in stabilizing the economy if it weakens. i will conclude with a few words on the technical implementation of monetary policy. in january, the fomc made the key decision to continue to implement monetary policy in an ample - reserves regime. in such a regime, we will continue to control the federal funds rate primarily by setting our administered rates, not through frequent interventions to actively manage the supply of reserves. in the transition to the efficient and effective level of reserves in this regime, we slowed the gradual decline in our balance sheet in may, and stopped it in july. in response to the funding pressures in money markets that emerged in mid - september, we decided to maintain a level of reserves at or above the level that prevailed in early september. to achieve this level of reserves, we announced in mid - october that we would purchase treasury bills at least into the second quarter of next year and would continue temporary open market operations at least through january. these actions are purely technical measures to support the effective implementation of monetary policy as we continue to learn about the appropriate level of reserves. they do not represent a change in the stance of monetary policy. thank you. i would be pleased to take your questions. 1 congressional budget office ( 2019 ), the 2019 long - term budget outlook ( pdf ) ( washington : cbo, june ). 3 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches

better chapters to their lives. significant differences, however, persist across different groups of workers and different areas of the country : unemployment rates for african americans and hispanics are still well above the jobless rates for whites and asians, and the proportion of the people with a job is lower in rural communities. inflation continues to run below the federal open market committee ’ s ( fomc ) symmetric 2 percent objective. the total price index for personal consumption expenditures ( pce ) increased 1. 3 percent over the 12 months ending in september, held down by declines in energy prices. core pce inflation, which excludes food and energy prices and tends to be a better indicator of future inflation, was 1. 7 percent over the same period. looking ahead, my colleagues and i see a sustained expansion of economic activity, a strong labor market, and inflation near our symmetric 2 percent objective as most likely. this favorable baseline partly reflects the policy adjustments that we have made to provide support for the economy. however, noteworthy risks to this outlook remain. in particular, sluggish growth abroad and trade developments have weighed on the economy and pose ongoing risks. moreover, 1 / 3 bis central bankers'speeches inflation pressures remain muted, and indicators of longer - term inflation expectations are at the lower end of their historical ranges. persistent below - target inflation could lead to an unwelcome downward slide in longer - term inflation expectations. we will continue to monitor these developments and assess their implications for u. s. economic activity and inflation. we also continue to monitor risks to the financial system. over the past year, the overall level of vulnerabilities facing the financial system has remained at a moderate level. overall, investor appetite for risk appears to be within a normal range, although it is elevated in some asset classes. debt loads of businesses are historically high, but the ratio of household borrowing to income is low relative to its pre - crisis level and has been gradually declining in recent years. the core of the financial sector appears resilient, with leverage low and funding risk limited relative to the levels of recent decades. at the end of this week, we will be releasing our third financial stability report, which shares our detailed assessment of the resilience of the u. s. financial system. monetary policy over the past year, weakness in global growth, trade developments, and muted inflation pressures have prompted the fomc to adjust its assessment of the appropriate path of interest rates. since july,