Janet Yellen Sticks to Steady Outlook on Rates

Photo Janet L. Yellen spoke to educators Thursday stressing the Fed s role in fighting financial crises. Credit Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images WASHINGTON Janet L. Yellen the Federal Reserve chairwoman was asked Thursday night http://mem.to/t/g/95rXXS167 what teachers should tell students to get them excited about central banking.Tell them about fighting financial crises Ms. Yellen responded.After all she noted that is the reason the Fed was created.That exchange at an event the Fed billed as a town-hall meeting for educators reflected the lasting effects of the 2008 financial crisis. Before then Fed officials rarely talked about the Fed s firefighting responsibilities. Ms. Yellen said she did not talk about them either when she was a university professor. This critical role of central banks as a lender of last resort is something that never got any attention when I taught money and banking Ms. Yellen said.Ms. Yellen also expressed the hope however that central banking would not be quite so interesting in the coming years. If the Fed does its job successfully she said then instead of being on Page 1 we can be back on Page 19 in the newspapers. Advertisement Continue reading the main story The event a reprise of a similar session three years ago gave teachers an opportunity to speak with the nation s top economist. A couple of dozen educators from the Washington area gathered in the Fed s grand boardroom where monetary policy is made while many others joined by videoconference from regional Fed offices.Asked about her outlook Ms. Yellen said that the economy is doing quite well for now but she said that long term I think there are quite serious problems. Productivity which ultimately determines living standards has increased slowly in recent years for reasons that are not fully understood she said. I also worry a great deal about inequality http://analyzerwifi.full-design.com/ Ms. Yellen said noting that most economic gains were accruing to the wealthiest Americans and that the share of young people doing as well or better than their parents had declined sharply.She also described as very shocking recent research showing that mortality rates were rising for middle-aged white Americans with no more than a high school education. This is a consequence and a reflection of greater economic insecurities Ms. Yellen said. And obviously that is a very disturbing trend. Ms. Yellen did not comment on the Fed s plans for interest rates. But her upbeat comments on the economy suggested that nothing significant had changed since the Fed s last policy-making meeting in December when the central bank predicted that economic growth would continue and that it would raise rates three times in 2017. Please verify you re not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address. Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Receive occasional updates and special offers for The New York Times s products and services. Thank you for subscribing. An error has occurred. Please try again later. You are already subscribed to this email. View all New York Times newsletters. See Sample Manage Email Preferences Not you? Privacy Policy Patrick T. Harker the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said Thursday that he expected that it would be appropriate for the Fed to increase rates three times during 2017 the consensus view among Fed officials. The labor http://bmxmuseum.com/user/239019/ market is strong and we re creating jobs at a good pace Mr. Harker said in Malvern Pa. We re starting 2017 off on a good foot. A minority of Fed officials want to move more slowly. James Bullard the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis said Thursday in New York that the Fed s benchmark interest rate should stay exceptionally low for the rest of 2017. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Fed officials have said it is too soon to predict the effect of President-elect Donald J. Trump s economic policies. Mr. Bullard said the incoming administration s fiscal policies were not likely to affect economic growth until 2018 and 2019.In her opening remarks Ms. Yellen highlighted the importance of preparing students to contribute to the work force and to be what she called responsible consumers. Consumers skilled in managing their finances are better prepared to weather bad times she said and stronger household finances over all can help sustain growth stabilize the economy and mitigate an economic downturn. Leah Young who teaches economics and personal finance at Washington-Lee High School in Arlington Va said she had jumped at the chance to attend the town hall meeting. She particularly relished Ms. Yellen s response to a question about why economics remains a male-dominated field.Ms. Yellen dismissed the idea that women were less interested in economics pointing instead to issues like bias and a lack of role models and reiterating her hope that change will come. I liked that she talked about all the reasons why women aren t in this and she shot those all down Ms. Young said. The message for her students: You can do this too. A version of this article appears in print on January 13 2017 on Page B4 of the New York edition with the headline: Chairwoman of Fed Gives an Economics Short Course Beyond Interest Rates. Order Reprints| Today s Paper|Subscribe Continue reading the main story Janet Yellen said in a speech to the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on Wednesday that holding off too long to begin raising rates could risk a nasty surprise down the road and that it makes sense for the Fed to gradually lift rates. (Reuters) Asian shares edged lower on Thursday and the dollar rebounded after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen hinted that interest rates in the United States could rise quickly this year. The dollar had been grinding lower in recent sessions dropping to its weakest levels since early December after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump expressed concerns about a stronger greenback. Investors have also remained anxious ahead of Trump s inauguration on Friday with many using it as an excuse to take some money off the table. Yellen said in a speech to the Commonwealth Club of California in San Francisco on Wednesday that holding off too long to begin raising rates could risk a nasty surprise down the road and that it makes sense for the Fed to gradually lift rates. MSCI s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan inched 0.1 percent lower in early trade. On Wall Street stronger financial shares helped push up the S&P 500 though the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down. Japan s Nikkei stock index was up 1 percent lifted by the weaker yen s tailwind. The dollar clearly rose on Yellen s remarks said Mitsuo Imaizumi chief currency strategist at Daiwa Securities in Tokyo. But with tomorrow s inauguration of Trump ahead Japanese investors still http://unlockframart.total-blog.com/framaroot-grand-prime-top-3-ways-to-detect-android-spyware-1792771 might take a cautious stance today. While market participants expect the incoming U.S. administration to embark on stimulus policies that would lift growth and inflation and keep the Fed on course for rate hikes many investors are also concerned about the potential fallout of Trump s protectionist stance. The dollar index which tracks the greenback against a basket of six major counterparts rose 0.4 percent to 101.31. The dollar was firm against the yen at 114.66 moving well above from the previous session s low of 112.57 yen. The euro was also steady on the day at 1.0632 ahead of the European Central Bank s regular policy meeting later in the session after the ECB surprised markets last month by saying it would trim its monthly bond purchases in April. non-e of the economists polled by Reuters last week expected any change at Thursday s meeting. They were unanimous in saying that the ECB s next move after April s planned cut would be to further taper its quantitative easing. Crude oil prices took back ground lost in the previous session when the dollar strengthened. A stronger dollar makes dollar-denominated commodities more expensive for holders of other currencies. U.S. crude added 0.7 percent to 51.46 per barrel after shedding 2.67 percent on Wednesday. Janet L. Yellen the Federal Reserve chairwoman made it clear Wednesday that she believes that the American economy is pretty much back on track.And that in turn sets the stage for a potential conflict with the incoming Trump administration in the months and years ahead.Congress assigns the Fed two goals: seek maximum employment and maintain stable prices. Ms. Yellen in a speech in San Francisco rather explicitly made clear that the nation isn t far from attaining those goals. Now it s fair to say the economy is near maximum employment and inflation is moving toward our goal she said. The unemployment rate 4.7 percent is back near where it was before the 2008 recession. And although inflation has been running below our 2 http://www.planetcoexist.com/main/user/16474 percent objective for quite some time we have seen it start inching back toward 2 percent last year. Continue reading the main story