Fisher: Will Not Support QE Beyond June

Feb. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Richard W. Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, said he isn’t inclined to support further quantitative easing after the central bank completes its purchase of $600 billion in Treasuries in June.

“You can never say never, but I cannot imagine a convincing argument for further quantitative easing after this round, given what is developing now in the economy,” the 61- year-old regional bank chief said today on Bloomberg Radio’s “The Hays Advantage” with Kathleen Hays.

Fisher said he regards the Fed’s asset-purchase plan as a “fait accompli” and that he wouldn’t have supported it if he had a vote last year. Before the Fed’s most recent meeting in January, the Dallas president criticized the second round of large-scale purchases, saying it may be “the wrong medicine” for the U.S. economy.

Recent economic data suggest the recovery will strengthen this year, with consumer spending rising and manufacturing unexpectedly accelerating last month.

“Given the way the economy is going now, and this is me speaking just for myself, I would not be supportive of any further quantitative easing,” Fisher said in the radio interview. The regional bank chief became a voting member of the policy-making Federal Open Market Committee again this year.

The jobless rate for January was probably 9.5 percent, the median estimate of 79 economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. Unemployment figures will be released tomorrow. The jobless rate has remained above 9 percent for 20 straight months.

Largest Economy

The world’s largest economy accelerated in the fourth quarter of 2010 at a 3.2 percent annual rate, as consumer spending climbed by the most in more than four years, Commerce Department figures showed Jan. 28. For all of 2010, the economy expanded 2.9 percent, the biggest gain in five years, after shrinking 2.6 percent in 2009.

The expansion is moving “at a rate that has been insufficient to bring about a significant improvement in labor market conditions,” the Federal Open Market Committee said after its two-day meeting in Washington.

Fisher, a former money manager and deputy U.S. trade representative, has been president of the Dallas Fed since 2005.

During the interview, Fisher responded to questions about the deficit and possibility that the U.S.’s debt ceiling may not be raised.

“I do not foresee America reneging on its obligations to its investors and its securities,” yet the U.S. risks losing its AAA debt rating “if we don’t get our act together,” he said. There has been a “flight to quality” to the U.S. and a “rush back to the dollar,” yet “if we do not correct our situation, we will go the path of what happens to old horses in the glue factory.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Vivien Lou Chen in San Francisco at vchen1@bloomberg.net

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