Investing.com – San Francisco Federal Reserve President John Williams hinted on Wednesday, the possibility of the U.S. central bank increasing interest rates faster than expected, as he said the economy is close to achieving the Federal Reserve’s dual mandate.
The San Francisco Fed chief pointed to the rebound in the U.S economy since The Financial Crisis, as the rate of employment and inflation is close to the Federal Reserve’s targets.
“With an economy at full employment, inflation nearing the Fed’s 2 per cent goal … We’ve largely attained the hard-sought recovery we’ve been after for the past nine years,” Williams also raised expectation of additional rate increases as he said his central bank colleagues should not "rule out more than three increases total for this year."
Williams struck a similar tone to Fed members Charles Evans and Eric Rosengren, who both suggested the robust growth in the U.S. economy warrants additional rate hikes this year.
Fed member Charles Evans said Wednesday, he has confidence that two total rate increases in 2017 seems “very safe” while Federal Reserve Bank of Boston President Eric Rosengren opted for a more bullish outlook, after he said the U.S. central bank should be prepared to raise interest rates a total of four times in 2017 to prevent the U.S. economy from overheating.
The U.S. dollar index was little changed, after the slew of rate hike chatter from several Fed members, the index remained close to session highs and traded at 99.87 up 0.57% by 14:09 EDT.
Gold futures continued to trade in negative territory, down 0.25% to $1,252.45 while Treasury yields inched off lows with U.S. 10-Year trading at around 2.391.