Markets Prepared to Fed Rate Hike Says Bullard

St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said on Monday global markets appear to be “well-prepared” for a summer interest rate hike from the Fed, although he did not specify a date for the policy move.

“My sense is that markets are well-prepared for a possible rate increase globally, and that this is not too surprising given our liftoff from December and the policy of the committee which has been to try to normalise rates slowly and gradually over time,” Bullard told a news conference after speaking at an academic conference in Seoul.

“So my ideal is that if all goes well this will come off very smoothly.”

Bullard added a rebound in U.S. GDP growth seems to be materialising in the second quarter, but reserved his opinion on whether the Fed should hike in June or July for the next policy meeting at the U.S. central bank.

His comments followed revised data on Friday that showed first quarter growth in the U.S. was not as weak as initially expected.

via CNBC

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency
trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza