Louis Fed chief James Bullard calls for interest rate hike

Gold extended gains to a fourth straight session on Wednesday, hitting a fresh three-month high, bolstered by a weaker dollar and comments from Federal Reserve officials cautioning against a rate hike this year.

“Over the past 15 months, US monetary policy deliberations have been taking place against a backdrop of progressively gloomier projections of global demand”, she said.

“I think October is a live meeting, clearly there is the potential that the data coming in, in advance of the October meeting will be sufficient we have a lot more in December”, he said following a speech to a university association in Orlando, Florida.

Brainard views housing as going in a positive direction generally, but was quick to point out that current building permit levels remain below fundamental expectations when evaluating factors such as US population growth.

Global equities marched higher Thursday as another raft of poor U.S. economic data reinforced expectations that the Federal Reserve will likely delay an interest rate hike. The reading continues a pattern of lukewarm data that has clouded the outlook for a rate increase from the Fed in the remainder of the year.

However, Yellen and Fischer supported the interest rate hike this year, saying that most FMOC (Federal Open Market Committee) participants, themselves included, anticipated an interest rate hike later this year, as long as the economy grows as expected. However, at the same time, he acknowledged that slowing United States jobs growth, low USA inflation and worldwide developments (China’s slowdown) are concerns and crucial for the timing of higher interest rates.

Another Fed governor, Lael Brainard, issued a similar assessment of the strength of the economy and the need for monetary stimulus on Monday. “The personal consumption expenditures price index (PCE) increased only 0.3 percent over the 12 months ending in August”, she pointed out.

Fed policy divisions were highlighted Tuesday as Governor Daniel Tarullo argued interest rates should stay on hold while documents showed most regional Fed directors sought higher borrowing costs.

While US unemployment, now at 5.1 percent is close to full employment, inflation remains well below the Fed target rate of 2 percent.

Mr. Evans also noted that the Chinese economy isn’t as strong as it has traditionally been, though there is “no urgent risk from China or Asia” on the US economy.