- On an atypically interesting day for Fedspeak -- to say the least -- Atlanta Fed chief Dennis Lockhart says he's still expecting the central bank to raise rates in 2015, though he's dropped "September" from expectations he had just two weeks ago.
- In a speech in Berkeley, Calif., Lockhart said he expected "normalization" to start this year after nearly a decade of near-zero policy, and to "proceed gradually, the implication being an environment of low rates for quite some time."
- He seems "complicating factors" in predicting growth as being the strong dollar (and devaluation of the yuan) and a continuing decline in oil prices.
- His own forecast for GDP growth, he says, can't help but be influenced by recent history -- 2.1% average annual growth since 2009, "slow growth" -- and he says Atlanta Fed's baseline forecast is for "moderate growth with continuing employment gains and a gradually rising rate of inflation."
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