Ready for rate rise "soon" given improved global conditions and continued growth
- Said "constraints" of the past two years, caused by problems from Europe to China, are easing
- Fed's employment and inflation goals are nearly met, allowing continued gradual pace of rate increases
- Says risks to outlook are as balanced as they have been "for some time"
- Says still supports plan to retain current size of Fed balance sheet until rates rise more
- Brainard says balance sheet policy should be "subordinate" to rate tightening because its impact on the economy is less well understood
(Headlines via Reuters)
Brainard with more subdued remarks than her fellow Fed officials, but nevertheless these can be characterised as leaning 'hawkish', supportive of a rate hike ... "soon" given improved global conditions and continued growth
Which sort of sounds to me like she'd like more incoming data.
Also cautionary are (bolding & paraphrasing mine):
- Fed's employment and inflation goals are nearly met
- Risks to outlook balanced
- Supports plan to retain current size of Fed balance sheet until rates rise more
Still, Brainard's comments here are less dovish than has come to be expected from her, and the USD buyers are liking them.
Updates;
Here is the full text:
Governor Lael Brainard
At the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
March 1, 2017
Transitions in the Outlook and Monetary Policy
more to come
--
Lael Brainard is a member of the Federal Reserve's Board of Governors
