St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President and CEO, James Bullard, addressed the Wealth & Asset Management Research Conference held today at Olin only an hour before the minutes of the central bank’s July 26-27 meeting were released. Reporters spoke to Bullard after his remarks in the Emerson Auditorium. Bloomberg reports that “Bullard said Wednesday that the central bank should be patient in raising interest rates with economic growth low.”
“I like to move on good news about the economy,” James Bullard said to reporters after a lecture at Washington University in St. Louis. “We have had some good jobs reports here but on the other hand GDP growth is only 1.2 percent year over year, inflation is still below target, inflation expectations are low.”
The FOMC has left rates unchanged since voting in December to raise them from near-zero levels, marking the first increase in nearly a decade. Concerns about the prospects for global economic growth, sagging inflation expectations, and mixed readings on the U.S. economy have kept them sidelined.
“Members generally agreed that, before taking another step in removing monetary accommodation, it was prudent to accumulate more data in order to gauge the underlying momentum in the labor market and economic activity,” the minutes also showed.
Investors will listen closely for additional clues on timing when Fed Chair Janet Yellen speaks Aug. 26 at an annual symposium hosted by the Kansas City Fed in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
Source: Bloomberg
