Fed’s Bullard is Against Anymore Rate Hikes for 2017

While we were all rejoicing over the GOP saving Obamacare on Friday, Fed’s Bullard said some pretty crazy things, such as not wanting to hike anymore for 2017.

His views conjoin with Fed’s Kashkari, who wants to discuss winding down the Fed’s balance sheet before hiking. I mean, that makes sense right? Wind down the balance sheet before your hikes incur actual losses on your own balance sheet is not a very outlandish thing to do. Alas, the Fed is run by a crazy woman — but opposition is starting to materialize.

“I think it is potentially overkill,” the St. Louis Fed president said Friday, referring to the central bank’s projection for future rate increases. “It’s not necessary to raise rates that quickly if the goal is to keep inflation near target and keep unemployment between 4.5 and 5 percent,” he told reporters in Memphis, Tennessee.

“We do not need to be preemptive in this situation,” Bullard said. “Some of my colleagues seem to think you really have to get out in front with a faster pace of rate increases in order to keep inflation and unemployment where they are. I don’t think you have to do that. I think you can take much more of a wait-and-see posture.”

Unfortunately, Bullard isn’t a voting member this year, so he words aren’t meaningless fodder. In the event sanity crept back into the Fed and a more easy policy persisted, that would be very bullish for gold, oil and other commodities.