Fed's Bullard: Fed Will Take Further Rate Changes Meeting by Meeting
September 23 2019 - 12:31PM
Dow Jones News
By Michael S. Derby
Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said
Monday it's unclear right now whether or not his colleagues will
support more rate cuts, but he said the ones made so far have added
quite a bit of stimulus to the outlook.
"U.S. monetary policy is considerably more accommodative today
than it was as of late last year," based on how markets have
reacted to the Fed's two quarter-percentage-point rate cuts, Mr.
Bullard said in materials for a presentation in Effingham, Ill.
Mr. Bullard dissented at the Federal Open Market Committee
meeting last week. He preferred a more aggressive half-percentage
point move down, relative to the action favored by most of his
colleagues. Markets broadly expect the Fed to lower rates again,
but the central bank isn't offering much guidance on this front as
it navigates a strong economy best by risks, mostly on the global
growth and trade fronts.
"The FOMC may choose to provide additional accommodation going
forward, but decisions will be made on a meeting-by-meeting basis,"
Mr. Bullard said.
Mr. Bullard said the storm clouds around the economy aren't
likely to fade soon. Amid this uncertainty, "the key risk is that
this slowing may be sharper than anticipated," he said. The
official added, "recent developments in global trade negotiations
suggest that it will be difficult to reach a stable global trade
regime over the forecast horizon," and this has cast a chill over
business investment.
Mr. Bullard also said the Fed's rate cuts should help lift
inflation back to the central bank's 2% target.
Write to Michael S. Derby at michael.derby@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 23, 2019 13:16 ET (17:16 GMT)
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