Fed's Brainard Indicates She Won't Support a Rate Hike In June

Soft data in the first quarter raise questions about the outlook and don't support an immediate liftoff, said Federal Reserve Governor Lael Brainard on Tuesday, suggesting she does not support a rate increase at the upcoming June policy meeting. "Based on the data available today," it is hard to dismiss the chance that the economy is weaker than had been expected, Brainard said in a speech to the Center for Strategic and International Studies. This possibility "argues for giving the data some more time" to confirm further improvement in the labor market and firming of inflation, Brainard said. Brainard joined the Fed in June 2014 after working at the Obama Treasury Department. This is her first speech on monetary policy.