Fed's Evans Sticks With Early 2016 Call For First Rate Hike

Charles Evans, the president of the Chicago Fed, stuck to his guns on Monday and said the U.S, central bank shouldn't hike rates until early 2016. "My current view is that my economic outlook and my assessment of the balance of risks will evolve in such a way that I likely will not feel confident enough to begin to raise rates until early next year," Evans said in a speech to business leaders in Columbus, Ind. Evans said that the weak first quarter gross domestic product data "do give me pause," but said he still expects the economy to snap back. "The underlying fundamentals still look good," he said. Evans has called to caution about hiking rates because he thinks inflation will stay below the Fed's 2% annual inflation target until 2018. "Just as too-high inflation can impose significant costs on the economy, so can too-low inflation," he said.