Fed’s Evans Says April Hike Would be a Surprise

The Federal Reserve is reluctant to plow ahead with more interest rate hikes because of increased global risks, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans told CNBC on Wednesday.

Evans spoke a day after central bank Chair Janet Yellen struck a dovish tone compared with recent comments by other Fed officials advocating hiking interest rates.

Evans, who is not a voting member on the Fed’s policymaking panel this year, told CNBC’s “Squawk Box” he believes Yellen has made it clear all meetings are live.

“I would say the threshold for having confidence that inflation is sustainably moving up towards our 2 percent inflation target is pretty high,” he said. “I’d be surprised if we met that condition, myself, in April.”

In the face of global uncertainty, Fed policymakers held rates steady at their March meeting. They also projected two rate hikes this year, half the estimate they projected in December, when they boosted rates for the first time in more than nine years.

“Accommodative policy continues to be appropriate. But it does have an upwards slope to it,” Evans said. “If [the data] come in stronger, then everybody would adjust upwards.”

via CNBC

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