Federal Reserve economists praised forecast markets as valuable forecasting tools.

PANews reported on February 19th that, according to Decrypt, Federal Reserve researchers stated in a working paper that macroeconomic forecasting markets can provide policymakers with real-time, market-based measures of inflation and interest rate expectations. The research found that these models closely match and even exceed traditional benchmark forecasts, while providing continuously updated probability distributions around key data releases and policy meetings.

The authors argue that forecasting markets can serve as a valuable complement to existing forecasting tools in research and policy settings. By providing transparent, continuously updated, and economically interpretable measures of expectations, forecasting markets can open new avenues for studying monetary policy transmission, market sentiment, and macroeconomic uncertainty.

Meanwhile, state regulators are stepping up their scrutiny of prediction markets. A ruling Tuesday by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals cleared the way for Nevada to pursue civil enforcement. A request to suspend Nevada's enforcement action against federally regulated prediction markets was denied, allowing the state to proceed while a wider legal battle continues. The decision has intensified the debate over whether such markets should fall under federal goods law or the state's gambling regime.

Sources familiar with the matter revealed that while the ruling allows Nevada to proceed with its enforcement case, it is only a provisional decision and does not address the substantive issues of the appeal. Seeking Supreme Court review would require a full appeal to be resolved in the Ninth Circuit. Currently, federal regulators have previously challenged the scope of certain event trading contracts, and several states argue that some prediction markets resemble unlicensed gambling operations, initiating cease and desist orders and enforcement lawsuits.