Atlanta Fed President Says ‘Things Continue to Look Up’ for U.S. Economy
- Atlanta Fed chief says banks feeling benefits of higher rates
- Fed is in midst of ‘carefully-calibrated’ policy normalization
Fed Minutes Show More Confidence in Economic Outlook
The U.S. central bank is carefully raising interest rates against a brightening economic background that has perked up conditions for the nation’s lenders, said Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic.
After years of emergency-era monetary policy, Fed officials are now “in an increasing-rate environment, and are in the midst of a carefully-calibrated return to a more normal Fed footing, which includes the gradual reduction in our balance sheet,” Bostic, a voter this year on the Fed’s rate-setting panel, told a banking conference in Atlanta Thursday. “Banks have anticipated the increase in rates and were really excited about the prospects of higher returns, keeping in mind the need to manage interest-rate risk.”