New York Federal Reserve President William Dudley expressed concern Monday over dollar strength and cautioned investors against trying to read too much into the central bank's economic projections.
The remarks from Dudley, an influential member of the Fed's Open Market Committee and one of its leading doves, reflected continued concern over the strength of the economy and seemed to fortify the belief that the U.S. central bank won't be making any sudden policy maneuvers.
"The dollar has appreciated a bit over the last few months—not by a significantly large amount—that does factor in terms of our economic forecast," he said at the Bloomberg Markets Most Influential Summit. "If the dollar would strengthen a lot that would have consequences for growth."
Investors have been training their collective gaze on recent FOMC statements for clues about when rates will rise.
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Dudley warned against the focus on the so-called dot plot—a graph showing Fed officials' rate expectations for the coming years—as these estimates will change based on economic conditions.
He said he has his own projections for the next three years, but "if I had told you what my confidence (level) in that dot is, you would probably not put a lot of weight in where that dot is located."
At the same time, he said that in the best scenario the Fed will be able to start raising rates in 2015.
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"I would love to be able to raise interest rates during my tenure," Dudley said, adding it is something he has not been able to do despite serving since January 2009. "It would be nice to see sufficient progress in terms of the economy. the labor market and inflation to be able to raise rates in 2015. That would make me very happy."
