What you need to know about the FOMC meeting
April 26, 2017 2:21 PM
Joshua Roberts/Bloomberg
At its previous meeting the Federal Open Market Committee voted to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to between ¾% and 1%. The move followed two weeks of Fed officials talking up a hike. Since the last meeting, Fed officials have discussed the balance sheet more than rate hikes. Here are the latest comments on monetary policy from the voting members.
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Janet Yellen, Federal Reserve Board Chair
"The appropriate stance of policy now is closer to, let me call it neutral," Yellen said. She expects the economy to continue to grow at a moderate pace and that gradual interest-rate increases "can get us where we need to be."
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William Dudley, Federal Reserve Bank of New York president
Dudley said three interest-rate hikes in 2017 is a "reasonable" projection and that the central bank may also begin shrinking its balance sheet later this year or in 2018, possibly pausing rate increases in the process.
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Lael Brainard, Federal Reserve Board Governor
No recent comments. A noted dove, who nevertheless supported the latest hike.
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Charles Evans, Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago president
Progress toward the dual mandate "justifies" the two latest rate hikes, Evans said. His outlook is "roughly consistent with the median" projections and he would "support another one or two increases this year."
T.J. Kirkpatrick/Bloomberg
Stanley Fischer, Federal Reserve Board, vice chair
When asked if two more rate increases were still the expectation, Fischer said, "We're feeling that way. So far we haven't seen anything to change that .
Charles Mostoller/Bloomberg
Patrick Harker, Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia president
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Robert S. Kaplan, Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas president
Three rate hikes remain "a good baseline ," although depending on the economy more or fewer increases may be appropriate, Kaplan said.
Mark Kauzlarich/Bloomberg
Neel Kashkari, Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis president
"I dissented because the key data I look at to assess how close we are to meeting our dual mandate goals haven't changed much at all since our prior meeting," Kashkari said. "We are still coming up short on our inflation target, and the job market continues to strengthen, suggesting that slack remains."
Drew Angerer/Bloomberg
Jerome H. Powell, Federal Reserve Board Governor
No recent comments. Powell supported the latest hike.
