Taylor Swift Released Her New Album Today. Why It’s Good News for Powell and the Fed.

Taylor Swift fans listen to a song during an event for the new album ‘The Life of a Showgirl’ at the Astor Theatre in Melbourne. (WILLIAM WEST/AFP via Getty Images)

Taylor Swift just dropped her 12th studio album. If the release paves the way for another mega-tour, then that’ll be music to the ears of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell and other monetary policymakers.

Swift released The Life of a Showgirl early Friday. The record had already become the first album ever to exceed 5 million Spotify pre-saves, according to the music analytics platform Chartmetric.

Investors who think they can play the release cycle by loading up on stocks will probably end up disappointed.

Universal Music Group, which owns Swift’s record label Republic Records, will get a cut of the streaming and publishing revenue. But the company, which filed for a U.S. listing in July, could be limited in how much it makes since Swift owns her master recordings.

Retailer Target kept hundreds of stores open until midnight so that fans could get their hands on both standard and exclusive versions of the new CD—but shares were up just 0.1% on Friday. The S&P 500 climbed 0.2%.

That doesn’t mean that The Life of a Showgirl is something the market can just ignore, though. The key question for investors is if Swift follows up the record with another mega-tour.

It’s hard to say just how much the Eras Tour, where Swift played 149 shows across five continents, affected the broader economy. But most models suggest it did have an impact—economists at Japanese bank Nomura estimated that the first U.S. leg of the tour generated $5 billion worth of consumer spending, as fans splashed the cash on everything from tickets to hotel rooms.

The economy could do with that sort of boost again. With jobs numbers looking weak at a time when inflation is running well above 2%, the Fed is in a tough place. Investors are all-but-certain that the central bank will cut interest rates later this month, and then again in December, as it bids to prop up the labor market.

If The Life of a Showgirl spawns a tour that’s anything like Eras, then it might be time for Powell to become a secret Swiftie.

Write to George Glover at george.glover@dowjones.com