Fischer: Interest Rates Seen Rising as Expected

Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Stanley Fischer said the central bank is nearing its dual goals and seems to be headed for the monetary policy path that officials had anticipated.

“I don’t want to give you numbers on two or three, but this is consistent with what we had thought should be happening around now — that is that we’d be moving closer to the 2 percent inflation rate, and that the labor market would continue to strengthen,” Fischer said when asked about the rate outlook Thursday on Bloomberg Television in an interview with Tom Keene. “If those two things happen, we’ll be on the path that we more or less expected.”

Fed officials are looking for three rate increases in 2017, based on the median in their most recent economic projections. Investors had expected this year’s first increase to come in June up until this week, but two days of relatively hawkish congressional testimony from Fed Chair Janet Yellen and a strong inflation reading for January have boosted expectations in markets for a rate increase as early as March or May.

Bloomberg

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