Federal Reserve officials are likely to “proceed cautiously” with raising rates in the years ahead, central bank Chairwoman Janet Yellen said Tuesday.
In text prepared for a speech in New York Tuesday, Yellen said recent movements in world markets had not significantly shifted the Fed’s view that the economy will continue recovering.
Yellen, however, also reiterated that any rate increases from the current low 0.25 percent to 0.5 percent rate would be “gradual” and said that expectation “is not a plan set in stone.”
In recent weeks, other members of the Federal Reserve system have suggested that the Fed could next raise its rate target as soon as their April monetary policy meeting. Yellen’s comments, however, did not hint at that possibility. Stocks rose and the dollar fell after her remarks were released, suggesting that investors interepreted them as indicating looser money.
