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New U.S. Federal Reserve chief Janet Yellen has kept policies set by her predecessor Ben
Bernanke on track... by slashing another 10 billion dollars from the Fed's monthly bond-buying
program. She also hinted at a rate increase,... which
could come as soon as spring of next year. Arirang's Hwang Ji-hye has the details. U.S.
Federal Reserve officials have made another 10-billion dollar reduction
in their bond-buying stimulus program, as widely expected.
After her first monetary policy meeting as Fed chair, Janet Yellen said Wednesday...
that the economy is strong enough to support continued improvement in the labor market.
The program was at 85-billion a month in December... and the fresh cut will take it to 55 billion.
While Yellen said that the central bank expects to keep interest rates near zero for a "considerable
time" after the bond-buying program ends this fall,... she hinted... that it could start
raising rates next spring.
"The language that we use in this statement is considerable, period. So this is the kind
of term it's hard to define, but probably means something on the order of around six
months or that type of thing."
The Fed tried, however, to set the market at ease,... saying it would look at a wide
range of economic indicators to make a judgment on the economy's readiness for higher rates.
It also said that it would no longer link its future decision to increase rates to the
unemployment rate,... as the jobless rate has fallen faster than expected.
Despite the assurance,... financial markets reacted swiftly to her comments.
"I think one of the most negative aspects of today's Fed meeting was that the Fed increased
the timing or the amount of rate hikes that we're going to see and pushed them forward."
Market analysts say... that Yellen failed to maintain the experienced ambiguity of her
predecessor Ben Bernanke... and gave too much information for the market to bear.
Hwang Ji-hye, Arirang News.