Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen addressed two key areas during her press conference following the announcement of the Federal Open Market Committee’s meeting minutes: interest rates and dropping oil prices.
The latest minutes showed that the nation's economy continued to expand at a moderate pace, along with continual improvements in the labor market.
An article from MarketWatch pulled several quotes from her speech on both topics:
Interest rates
“So I did say that the statement that the committee can be patient should be interpreted as meaning that it is unlikely to begin the normalization process for at least the next couple of meetings. Now, that doesn’t point to any preset or predetermined time at which normalization will begin. There are a range of views on the committee, and it will be dependent on how incoming data bears on the progress the committee is making.”
Oil prices
“I think the judgment of the committee is that from the standpoint of the United States and the U.S. outlook, that the decline we have seen in oil prices is likely to be on net a positive. It’s something that is certainly good for families, for households, it’s putting more money in their pockets, having to spend less on gas and energy, so in that sense it’s like a tax cut that boosts their spending power."
