- Joined
- Nov 25, 2013
- Messages
- 1,767
- Points
- 0
Yellen stays the course, says Fed to keep trimming stimulus
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/11/us-usa-fed-idUSBREA1A06O20140211
(Reuters) - Janet Yellen, fresh from taking the helm of the Federal Reserve, made it clear on Tuesday she would not make any abrupt changes to U.S. monetary policy, saying the central bank was on track to keep reducing its stimulus even though the labor market recovery was far from complete.
In her first public comments since becoming Fed chief earlier this month, Yellen had testy exchanges with some Republican lawmakers over Wall Street regulation and central bank independence. But she managed to keep financial markets calm by emphasizing continuity with the policy approach taken by her predecessor, Ben Bernanke.
Yellen said the central bank must keep its eye on the "unusually high" incidence of long-term unemployment and the "exceptionally high" proportion of Americans who can find only part-time work as it plots a tricky reversal of its very accommodative policy stance.
"By a number of measures our economy is not back, the labor market is not back, to normal," Yellen told the U.S. House of Representatives' Financial Services Committee. "There's a great deal of slack in the labor market still."
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/11/us-usa-fed-idUSBREA1A06O20140211
(Reuters) - Janet Yellen, fresh from taking the helm of the Federal Reserve, made it clear on Tuesday she would not make any abrupt changes to U.S. monetary policy, saying the central bank was on track to keep reducing its stimulus even though the labor market recovery was far from complete.
In her first public comments since becoming Fed chief earlier this month, Yellen had testy exchanges with some Republican lawmakers over Wall Street regulation and central bank independence. But she managed to keep financial markets calm by emphasizing continuity with the policy approach taken by her predecessor, Ben Bernanke.
Yellen said the central bank must keep its eye on the "unusually high" incidence of long-term unemployment and the "exceptionally high" proportion of Americans who can find only part-time work as it plots a tricky reversal of its very accommodative policy stance.
"By a number of measures our economy is not back, the labor market is not back, to normal," Yellen told the U.S. House of Representatives' Financial Services Committee. "There's a great deal of slack in the labor market still."