Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen spoke earlier on the economy and monetary policy
- Yellen Q&A now: Fed is not certain low inflation is transitory
- Yellen says inflation below target, unemployment at or below goal
- Fed Chair Yellen speaking - Fed must keep an open mind, respond to data
Here are a couple of recaps:
- Yellen says the Fed is close to goals, sees dual risks as it hikes rates
- Inflation should rebound, but Fed uncertain -Yellen
This now via the Wall Street Journal:
- "We expect [inflation] to move back up over the next year or two, but I will say I'm very uncertain about this,"
- Ms. Yellen and other Fed officials said the shortfall in inflation could be caused by transitory factors, like a drop in pricing for wireless phone plans and subdued growth in health-care prices. But more recently, they have questioned how transitory the price weakness may be.
- "My colleagues and I are not certain that it is transitory, and we are monitoring inflation very closely,"
- "this year low inflation is surprising because we're at essentially full employment,"
- "It may be that there is something more endemic or long-lasting here that we need to pay attention to"
Early in the interview Yellen said that the Federal Open Market Committee must keep an open mind, not be trapped by prior forecasts, and respond to incoming data. He later remarks on inflation echoing this.
Link to the Journal recap, which may be gated:
