Pianalto Sees Uneven Progress

Sandra Pianalto of the Cleveland Federal Reserve has said that though the economy is gaining momentum, it is doing so in an uneven fashion. Pianalto will be a voting member on the Fed's policy setting committee in the coming year. She said that the economy (particularly the labor market) would need to increase faster to repair the damage done by the recent recession. Pianalto is seen as a moderate inflation dove, and thus sympathetic to policy actions geared toward increasing employment rather than maintaining price stability.

The next Fed meeting is in late April and no new policy is expected. The current low interest rates are expected to be maintained, but new asset purchases or qualitative easing is not expected by most analysts soon, though many think such policy will be implemented at some point. Even though the unemployment rate slipped last month, so did the rate of job growth.

Source: Reuters