One of the Federal Reserve’s biggest backers of easy monetary policy said he supported slowing down the central bank’s asset purchases once the US economy had enough momentum.
The comments by Bill Dudley amount to the first official hint that a reduction in the pace of asset purchase programme, known as QE3, is likely to be slow and may soothe market worries about the impact of reduced purchases by the Fed.
In a speech yesterday, Bill Dudley, president of the New York Fed, said that the central bank should adjust the speed of its asset purchases, currently $85bn a month, in response to material changes in the outlook for the labour market.