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Fed’s Bullard rebuts calls to delay rate increase

October 2, 2015 12:34 PM EDT

By Richard Leong and Howard Schneider

NEW YORK/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A top Federal Reserve official said on Friday that arguments that the U.S. or global economy have fundamentally changed are not compelling, or adequate to keep the Fed from raising interest rates, given the drop in unemployment and likelihood of continued growth.

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard, who advocated raising rates at the Fed’s last meeting, spoke at an event in New York to rebut arguments some policymakers have made in favor of further delay.

He said conventional “prudent” monetary policy points to a need to raise rates now, and none of the arguments to the contrary have proved convincing.

"The U.S. economy will likely enjoy better outcomes if the monetary policy orthodoxy I have described is preserved as the guiding principle," said Bullard in a prepared speech at an event sponsored by the Shadow Open Market Committee.

Bullard does not currently vote on interest rate policy, but has said he would have dissented when the Federal Open Market Committee decided to hold off.

(Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)



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