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Fed likely to announce taper in November, former Fed official says

The U.S. Federal Reserve is likely to announce the tapering of its asset purchases in November and begin the process a month later, former Federal Reserve official Dennis Lockhart said on Thursday.

Waiting until November will give policymakers more data on the labor market's recovery and economic growth, Lockhart told the Reuters Global Markets Forum (GMF).

But Lockhart, president of the Atlanta Fed from 2007 to 2017, warned "a particularly bad next two months" could postpone this timeline.

The Fed's September meeting will be the first since the Jackson Hole symposium where Chairman Jerome Powell only said tapering could be "this year."

Fed policymakers will also release their summary of economic projections at the September meeting, which Lockhart said they may want to get "out of the way" before giving a taper schedule.

The economic projections "could present a picture not entirely consistent with the tapering decision in some respects," he said.

Lockhart believes financial markets should absorb tapering without much volatility, but that the Fed should worry about persistent market unrest if it spills into the real economy.

Reference: Reuters

Read More: https://www.reuters.com/article/economy-usa-taper-gmf/refile-fed-likely-to-announce-taper-in-november-former-fed-official-says-idUSL4N2Q5180