Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan said on Tuesday that he will be assessing the progress of the U.S. economy toward full employment and looking for more signs of upward inflation as he weighs potential interest-rate hikes.
"I intend to keep an open mind about removing accommodation in upcoming (Fed) meetings," Kaplan said in remarks prepared for delivery at the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research.
Kaplan, who votes this year on Fed policy, has said he is concerned that globalization and technology are keeping inflation muted, despite unemployment that sank in September to 4.2 percent. While near-full employment is putting some upward pressure on inflation, he said on Wednesday, those secular forces are acting as headwinds.
"Over the next period of time, I will be assessing the economy's continued progress in removing labor slack, and I will be looking for evidence that building cyclical forces have the prospect of offsetting structural headwinds, such that we are likely to make progress toward meeting our 2 percent inflation objective in the medium term."