Fed Chair Offers Clues To Next Rate Move
by Steve Tawa
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen's speech to the World Affairs Council in Philadelphia on Monday was a last chance to get insights into Fed thinking on its next rate move, before next week's monetary policy meeting.
Janet Yellen expects interest rates to "gradually increase," because "positive economic forces have outweighed the negative."
"If incoming data are consistent with labor market conditions strengthening, and inflation making progress toward our 2% objective, as I expect, further gradual increases in the federal funds rate are likely to be appropriate," said Yellen.
She did not specify a timetable.
"Monetary policy is not on a pre-set course," she said.
Many thought Fed officials were considering a rate hike this month, but then last week came a sobering Labor Department report that hiring slowed sharply in May.
"This past Friday's labor market report was disappointing," Yellen said.
She says while on balance, it was concerning, she emphasizes "one should never attach too much significance to any single monthly report."
The Fed raised its key benchmark interest rate in December for the first time in nearly 10-years. It has held off tinkering with short term rates since then.