Bullard Discusses U.S. Monetary Policy, Inflation and Economic Growth with CNBC

October 12, 2021

St. Louis Fed President Jim Bullard shared his views on tapering the Fed’s asset purchases, the U.S. economy and inflation during an interview on CNBC’s Closing Bell.

Bullard said that he would support starting the taper in November. “I’ve been advocating trying to get finished with the taper process even by the end of the first quarter next year because I want to be in position to react to possible upside risks to inflation next year as we try to move out of this pandemic,” he said.

On the U.S. economy, he noted that third-quarter real GDP growth estimates have been marked down due to the COVID-19 delta variant, but he expects growth to get pushed into the fourth quarter and the first half of next year. “I think the total amount of growth that we’ll see will not be diminished,” he said.

During the interview, Bullard also said that the U.S. is in pretty good shape on labor markets and that he expects them to continue improving through the next six to nine months as the Fed is tapering.

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