Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis President James Bullard, a voter on policy this year who has backed record stimulus, said the US Federal Reserve may make a small cut to bond purchases next month after its narrow decision this week not to reduce accommodation.
“That was a borderline decision after weaker data came in,” Bullard said on Friday on Bloomberg Television’s Bloomberg Surveillance with Tom Keene and Sara Eisen. “The committee came down on the side of: ‘Let’s wait.’”
Bullard called next month a “live meeting,” because “it’s possible you could get some data that change the complexion of the outlook and could make the committee be comfortable with a small taper in October.”
The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday unexpectedly refrained from reducing its US$85 billion in monthly asset purchases, saying it needs to see more signs of sustained labor market gains.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said on Wednesday the central bank would decide on whether to taper purchases based on “what’s needed for the economy.”
The Fed will be able to weigh this month’s jobs report and revisions of prior months, as well as updated housing reports at its Oct. 29 to 30 meeting, Bullard said in a separate interview at Bloomberg’s headquarters in New York.
“This was a very close call so maybe the information would come in in a way that would change the complexion” of the outlook, he said.
Markets should not have been surprised by the decision because Federal Open Market Committee members have repeatedly said the decision to slow, or taper, would be “data dependent,” Bullard said.
“I’m a little dismayed at those in markets that are saying they’re surprised by this,” Bullard said.
The Fed said that, “if the economy was going to improve in the second half of the year, and if we saw that improvement, we would taper,” he said.
Kansas City Fed President Esther George, who has consistently dissented against additional stimulus, said the central bank missed an opportunity to begin reducing bond purchases because markets were primed for such a move.
“Costly steps had been taken to begin to prepare markets for an adjustment in the pace of asset purchases,” George said on Friday in a New York speech. “This week’s decision by the Fed to taper expectations and not bond buying surprised many, disappointed some like me.”
Vincent Wei led fellow Singaporean farmers around an empty Malaysian plot, laying out plans for a greenhouse and rows of leafy vegetables. What he pitched was not just space for crops, but a lifeline for growers struggling to make ends meet in a city-state with high prices and little vacant land. The future agriculture hub is part of a joint special economic zone launched last year by the two neighbors, expected to cost US$123 million and produce 10,000 tonnes of fresh produce annually. It is attracting Singaporean farmers with promises of cheaper land, labor and energy just over the border.
US actor Matthew McConaughey has filed recordings of his image and voice with US patent authorities to protect them from unauthorized usage by artificial intelligence (AI) platforms, a representative said earlier this week. Several video clips and audio recordings were registered by the commercial arm of the Just Keep Livin’ Foundation, a non-profit created by the Oscar-winning actor and his wife, Camila, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office database. Many artists are increasingly concerned about the uncontrolled use of their image via generative AI since the rollout of ChatGPT and other AI-powered tools. Several US states have adopted
A proposed billionaires’ tax in California has ignited a political uproar in Silicon Valley, with tech titans threatening to leave the state while California Governor Gavin Newsom of the Democratic Party maneuvers to defeat a levy that he fears would lead to an exodus of wealth. A technology mecca, California has more billionaires than any other US state — a few hundred, by some estimates. About half its personal income tax revenue, a financial backbone in the nearly US$350 billion budget, comes from the top 1 percent of earners. A large healthcare union is attempting to place a proposal before
KEEPING UP: The acquisition of a cleanroom in Taiwan would enable Micron to increase production in a market where demand continues to outpace supply, a Micron official said Micron Technology Inc has signed a letter of intent to buy a fabrication site in Taiwan from Powerchip Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp (力積電) for US$1.8 billion to expand its production of memory chips. Micron would take control of the P5 site in Miaoli County’s Tongluo Township (銅鑼) and plans to ramp up DRAM production in phases after the transaction closes in the second quarter, the company said in a statement on Saturday. The acquisition includes an existing 12 inch fab cleanroom of 27,871m2 and would further position Micron to address growing global demand for memory solutions, the company said. Micron expects the transaction to
RSS