Cleveland Fed Pres. Loretta Mester

Fed's Mester
  • We will will need more support from fiscal side of things
  • Could see some improvement in 2nd half of year
  • At the Fed we are always looking to use our tools to support the economy
  • Negative interest rates is not part of active discussion, but the Fed never says never
  • There would be a lot of problems using negative interest rates
  • negative interest is not part of active discussion
  • asset purchases, forward guidance tools have served us well
  • the Fed is not trying to stand in for the real economy
  • The Fed and fiscal policy is trying to build a bridge over the period of a shutdown
  • When we get to the point to reopen the economy, we will be in a position to recover