Yellen: December rate hike a 'live possibility'

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Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said Wednesday that December would be a "live possibility" for a rate hike if the upcoming data are supportive.


"Now no decision has been made on that and, what it will depend on, is the [Federal Open Market Committee's] assessment at the time. That assessment will be informed by all of the data that we collect between now and then," she said, testifying before the House Financial Services Committee.

Yellen also said she and the committee expect the economy to grow "at a pace that's sufficient to generate further improvement in the labor market, and to return inflation to our 2 percent target."

"If the incoming information supports that expectation, then or statement indicates that December would be a live possibility," she said.

According to the CME Group, the probability of a Fed rate hike next month increased to 60 percent after Yellen's testimony.

Yellen also provided testimony on the health of U.S. banks, which has improved, but some problems still remain.

Testifying before the House Financial Services Committee, Yellen said capital at the eight biggest U.S. banks has nearly doubled and now sits at about $500 billion.

Regional banks are also well capitalized while community bank loan growth has picked up, she said.

Nevertheless, the country's biggest banks still have substantial compliance and risk-management issues, which have undermined the confidence in them, she said.

This has led the Fed to propose a reform designed to reduce the possibility of big bank failures, as well as to limit the systemic damage done from such failures, Yellen said.

The central unveiled its proposal on Friday and said that six of eight key U.S. banks would need to raise an additional $120 billion to meet the proposed requirements.

"By making the failure of even the largest banks more manageable, the proposed regulation will be another important step in solving the too-big-to-fail problem," said Fed Gov. Daniel Tarullo in a statement Friday.

— CNBC's Elizabeth Schulze and Jacob Pramuk contributed to this report.

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2015年11月05日 00:06 锺志恒



美FED主席叶伦表示，12月FOMC是否升息，犹待观察。（美联社）

美国联准会主席叶伦4日出席眾院听证会，虽然在证词中没有提及货币政策动向，和美国经济前景等看法，但她在回答国会议员的提问时，还是被提问到相关问题。

她表示，若联准会在12月升息，会根据「合理的」预期通膨率，将会上升至2%后，才会做这样决定。但目前通膨率仍低于2%目标。

她强调，虽然联准会的联邦公开市场委员会（FOMC）曾表示，在下一次会议上升息也许是恰当，但目前仍未做任何决定。

对于被问到有关美国经济前景的看法，叶伦表达乐观态度。她说，美国经济目前的表现相当好，内部消费正稳定地持续增加。(工商即时)

出版编辑：潘勛

源济