Fed's Evans nods at possible June rate hike

NEW YORK (Reuters) - One of the Federal Reserve's most dovish officials suggested on Thursday that he could be ready to pull the trigger on another U.S. interest rate hike by a policy meeting in June.

"Given the economy we're looking at, it would be two rate hikes this year," Chicago Fed President Charles Evans said at the Quinnipiac G.A.M.E. forum.

"It's not really critical when those take place. I guess I would sort of say one in the middle of the year and one at the end of the year," he said, adding the Fed could move earlier or later.

The Fed holds policy meetings about every six weeks. The next is in late April, followed by one in mid-June.

After having raised rates for the first time in a decade in December, the U.S. central bank stood pat in January and again in mid-March, when it cited weakness overseas and an early-year market selloff that has since reversed.

Asked whether the Fed is taking its policy cues from markets, Evans said it is often the case that investors can react to international data before central bankers gather to make policy decisions.

(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Bill Trott)

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