Fed will be 'data dependent': Dallas Fed's Kaplan
Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan said the central bank has no plans to change its policy, despite disapproval from President Trump on the pace of interest rate hikes.
“I think we’re getting close or approaching a neutral, where we’re neither accommodative nor restrictive,” he told FOX Business’ Maria Bartiromo during an interview that will air Friday at 9 p.m. ET.
The Fed raised interest rates in September for the third time this year – to a range of 2 percent to 2.25 percent – and signaled it would raise borrowing costs again in December. The central bank also forecast an additional three rate hikes in 2019 and one in 2020. They have raised rates a total of eight times since 2015.
The Fed raises interest rates to prevent the economy from growing too fast and as a result causing inflation. Inflation is defined as the general increase of the price of goods over a period of time. Consumers are already seeing prices of goods begin to creep higher, with U.S. consumer prices increasing 2.5 percent in October.
Trump launched an assault on the Fed last month, saying that it is his “biggest threat” because it is “raising rates too fast, and it’s too independent.”
Kaplan said due to potential headwinds, the Fed should be patient and gradual going forward.
“We’re going to be – and use the lingo 'data dependent,'” he said. “And that means we’re going to be very sensitive, to talking to contacts, looking at data, understanding what’s going on with businesses, looking global.”
Catch the full interview on “Maria Bartiromo’s Wall Street” on Friday at 9 p.m. ET.
This story been updated to correct "day to dependent" to "data dependent"