Exclusive: Fed's Bullard Takes Different View on Rate Hike vs. Yellen

In an exclusive interview with FOX Business, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard appeared to take a different view on future rate hikes than that of Fed Chair Janet Yellen.

Bullard told D.C. correspondent Peter Barnes that the Fed can afford to wait until later in the year for a rate hike. On Tuesday, Yellen told members of Congress that “waiting too long” to tighten policy “would be unwise” as detailed in her semiannual testimony, which continued on Wednesday.

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Bullard also suggested the uncertainty around President Donald Trump’s policies won’t be resolved by March 14-15, the date of the next scheduled FOMC meeting. Fed funds futures, a tool used to predict market expectations for monetary policy changes, have inched up odds of a March rate rise to 26% from 17% Tuesday.

He was more optimistic that the Fed and the new administration could put aside their differences saying, "The Fed and the Trump administration will get along famously."