Yellen strikes dovish tone with her comments on US economy
JANET Yellen, President Barack Obama’s nominee to chair the Federal Reserve, said yesterday that the US central bank has “more work to do” to help an economy and labor market that are still underperforming.
“I believe that supporting the recovery today is the surest path to returning to a more normal approach to monetary policy,” Yellen, the Fed’s current vice chair, said in remarks prepared for delivery to the Senate Banking Committee yesterday.
Yellen would be the first woman to lead the UScentral bank if her nomination is confirmed by the Senate, as widely expected, although she will face heavy questioning from Republicans on the banking panel critical of the Fed’s easy money stance.
In comments that appeared aimed at pre-empting some of that questioning, Yellen yesterday said the economy and labor market were performing “far short” of their potential, while price pressures remained muted.