President Bullard Speaks with Jeremy Schwartz and Jeremy Siegel on Wharton Business Radio

Aug. 21, 2015

In an interview Friday, Aug. 21, 2015, with Jeremy Schwartz and Jeremy Siegel on Wharton Business Radio on Sirius XM, President Bullard shared his views on monetary policy and the U.S. and global economy.

Read the transcript (pdf).

Having trouble with the audio? Download the MP3.

On equity markets and Fed decision-making: “Equity markets are forward looking. They’re trying to assess the trends in the global economy, and we’re also trying to assess the trends in the global economy, and so in that sense, we’re looking at the same things. I’m not sure I’d have exactly the same assessment as the market’s having. I know there are a lot of worries about global growth, a lot of it coming from China. I would probably be more sanguine than the market in that dimension.”

Regarding the timing of liftoff: “No decision has been made.”

On data-dependent policymaking: “There will be an assessment at the September meeting, which will be mostly centered, I think, on labor market prospects, and cumulative progress on labor markets, growth prospects going forward in the U.S. and inflation in the U.S., and then some on financial stability.”

On assessment of China and impact on U.S. outlook: “Anecdotal reports that I’ve received from businesses in the Eighth District but around the country that have business in China tend to be downbeat relative to where they were, and I think that’s probably affecting market sentiment. A lot of people are wondering whether the 7 percent growth rate is real or the actual growth rate is something less than that. And I think the devaluation and some of the recent news which has been softer out of China is making people put more weight on that kind of interpretation that the actual growth rate might be somewhat less than the reported growth rate.

Still it’s a big economy, it’s a growing economy. There’s a lot going on. Whether you should really be changing equity valuations as much as people are in reaction to sort of slim amounts of data out of China, I think, is kind of questionable.”

Related News Article

Back to Top