Atlanta Fed President's interest rate expectations

Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said he favors holding interest rates steady through the end of the year. Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said Wednesday that he thinks the Fed should hold interest rates steady at current levels at least through the end of this year to better assess the impact of sharp rate hikes on the U.S. economy. “My basic point is that we should hold them at this level for the rest of the year,” Bostic said in an interview Wednesday. “I think we’re still in the very early stages of tightening monetary policy where we’re actually starting to have a significant impact on the economy. I feel like we’ve got some time to just let that happen and see exactly how it’s going to play out. Most of the economy is responding to our policies,” Bostic said. He said it could take six to 24 months for the economy to feel the full brunt of the Fed’s policies.