[_delirium]

On a nationwide scale, the oil-price crash is adding some offsetting economic slowdown (since the U.S. is a huge oil producer) which I think significantly reduces inflation risk. The previously booming energy sector is stalling and moving towards a contraction: reducing investments, laying off employees, etc. SF rents are going up, but Houston rents are going down. The overall engineering employment market is also getting slightly less tight as petroleum engineering is no longer sucking up every ounce of spare talent.

Plus just in terms of the benchmarks they watch: The headline CPI is currently at a miniscule 0.1%, way below the 2.0% target. The personal-consumption-expenditures (PCE) rate is somewhat higher at 1.3%, but still below the target.