Rosengren quiere QE3; Fisher no

Genevieve Signoret & Patrick Signoret

En entrevistas separadas, dos miembros del comité de política monetaria de la Fed (FOMC por sus siglas en inglés) ofrecieron perspectivas opuestas sobre la necesidad de mayor estímulo por parte de la Fed (NYT, Reuters). Ninguno de los dos son miembros votantes este año (Rosengren lo será en 2013).

NYT sobre los comentarios de Eric Rosengren, presidente de la Fed de Boston, y Richard Fisher, presidente de la Fed de Dallas:

A senior Federal Reserve official said Monday that the employment data released last week had reinforced his view that the Fed must act to increase economic growth.

Eric S. Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said that the Fed should again expand its holdings of mortgage bonds and Treasury securities, and that the purchases should steadily continue until the Fed was satisfied with the health of the economy.

 “You continue to do it until it’s clear that you’re no longer treading water,” Mr. Rosengren said in an interview. “You continue to do it until you have documented evidence that you’re getting growth in income and the unemployment rate consistent with your economic goals.”

But another Fed official, Richard W. Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said in an interview with Reuters on Monday that he did not support additional monetary stimulus because he did not think it would reduce unemployment. He said the real drag on the economy was a lack of action by fiscal policy makers.

The Fed said after the most recent meeting of its policy-making committee last week that it would act if the pace of job growth did not improve. The comments by the two officials offered the first glimpse of how the latest jobs data, released two days after the meeting, might affect the Fed’s decision-making.

It is a limited glimpse. Mr. Rosengren and Mr. Fisher occupy opposite ends of the spectrum of Fed officials — Mr. Rosengren already favored new action, while Mr. Fisher has consistently opposed new steps — while the decision rests with a centrist group led by the Fed’s chairman, Ben S. Bernanke.

Reuters tiene más sobre su entrevista con Fisher:

New steps by the U.S. Federal Reserve to stimulate the economy so close to a presidential election would be a mistake, a top Fed official said on Monday, warning it could create a false impression of bowing to political pressure.

Richard Fisher, president of the Dallas Federal Reserve and a consistent hawk on monetary policy, said the real problem with the economy, and the stubbornly high jobless rate, is Congress’s lack of action on fiscal policy.

Fisher, who spoke to Reuters roughly six weeks ahead of a Fed policy meeting that many see coming at a critical juncture, said any perceptions that the U.S. central bank could be motivated by political factors are untrue — but the Fed must guard against any misimpressions.