LONDON (MNI) – The minutes of the last FOMC meeting are a “bit
stale” and data since then have been somewhat stronger, says St Louis
Federal Reserve President and Federal Open Market Committee member James
Bullard.
Yet Bullard said that growth had disappointed expectations.
“Growth has not come in as strongly this year as we
expected…Things haven’t been where we’d like them to be,” he said.
Bullard continued:
“I do think the minutes are a bit stale as we’ve had some data
since then that has been somewhat stronger,” he said.
Bullard also said that growth of around 2% in the second half of
2012 would be strong enough for the Fed to keep its monetary policy
stance on hold.
“If we were to resume, which I think we will, you know 2% growth,
maybe a bit stronger than that in the second half of this year,
unemployment ticks down through the rest of the year, that’s not a great
outcome but to me it’s a good enough outcome to keep us on hold,” he
said.
He also signalled his concerns on the euro zone crisis, saying he
had become pessimistic on the zone’s capacity to deal with the
situation.
The Fed official described the crisis as “not good, still a
wildcard”.
–London newsroom 4420 78627492 email: ukeditorial@marketnews.com
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