Observers should not "prejudge" the Federal Open Market Committee's June meeting, since any moves will be data-dependent, but a hike can happen even though there's no press conference after the meeting, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said in a televised interview.
The FOMC tries "to be data dependent. I don't think there's any reason to prejudge the June meeting at this point," Bullard told CNBC. "We can wait until we get to the meeting see what the data say and try to make a good decision then."
To those who say the Fed won't move because there is no post-meeting press conference, Bullard noted, "We have made many moves over the years without press conferences." He did note that he felt it was important that the first hike took place when a post-meeting press conference was scheduled.
The labor market is quite strong and the U.S. is "at or beyond full employment," he said. This is the strongest factor favoring an increase in the fed funds rate target, and if the FOMC was basing its decision solely on employment it would hike rates. Growth, he noted is not as strong. However, he said the rule of thumb is labor trumps growth since the labor numbers are more timely.
