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November 30, 2019 T: 582-7800 | F: 582-7044 www.arubatoday.com
Aruba’s ONLY English newspaper
Page 13
How a central banker's low-rate shift showed the way for Fed By CHRISTOPHER RUGABER AP Economics Writer RICHMOND, Virginia (AP) — In mid-2016, even with unemployment falling and the economy growing modestly, James Bullard, head of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, was concerned. Months earlier, with Bullard's support, the Fed had raised rates for the first time in seven years. Panicky financial markets responded by sending stocks tumbling. The Fed delayed plans for further rate hikes. Through it all, there was still no sign of higher inflation — the supposed bogeyman that had led the Fed to raise rates in the first place. "We were expecting inflation to pick up," Bullard acknowledged in an interview this month. "We had the idea that we should be pre-emptive and prevent that from happening. Continued on Next Page
In this Nov. 19, 2019, photo James Bullard, president of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, gestures during an interview in Richmond, Va. Associated Press