WASHINGTON–The Fed continues to send mixed signals. Shortly after the Fed indicated it is dialing back plans in 2016 to increase rates, two officials with the Federal Reserve have indicated that interest-rate increases may be necessary as soon as the Fed’s meeting in April as the result of the solid numbers being posted by the U.S. economy.
“There is sufficient momentum evidenced by the economic data to justify a further step at one of the coming meetings, possibly as early as the meeting scheduled for end of April,” Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Dennis Lockhart said Monday in Savannah, Ga., according to Bloomberg.
The Federal Open Market Committee next meets April 26-27. After earlier indicating it would raise rates four times in 2016, the Fed earlier this month said it would scale that plan back to two times this year.
Bloomberg quoted San Francisco Fed chief John Williams as saying, “All else equal, assuming everything else is basically the same and the data flow continues the way I hope and expect, then April or June would definitely be potential times to have an increase in interest rates.”
Williams does not have a vote on policy in 2016.