WHEN: Today, Thursday, February 22, 2018
WHERE: CNBC's "Squawk Box"
Following are excerpts from a CNBC interview with Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard on CNBC's "Squawk Box" (M-F 6AM – 9AM) today, Thursday, February 22, 2018. Bullard joined the "Squawk Box" cast as a guest co-host from 6AM – 7AM. Following are links to video of the interview on CNBC.com: https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/02/22/feds-james-bullard-on-economic-growth-forecasts.html?play=1 & https://www.cnbc.com/video/2018/02/22/feds-james-bullard-on-rate-hike-concerns.html?play=1.
All references must be sourced to CNBC.
James Bullard on 2017:
YOU KNOW, 2017 WAS A GOOD YEAR. U.S. ECONOMY SURPRISED TO THE UPSIDE. GLOBAL ECONOMY SURPRISED TO THE UPSIDE EVEN MORE THAT THE U.S. THAT DROVE EARNINGS. THAT DROVE A GOOD YEAR FOR US EQUITIES SO IT WAS NATURAL FOR US TO BE MEETING IN JANUARY AND SAYING GOOD THINGS ABOUT 2017. SO I THINK THAT PART IS ACCURATE.
James Bullard on 2018:
THE IDEA THAT WE HAVE TO GO 100 BASIS POINTS IN 2018, THAT SEEMS LIKE A LOT TO ME. THAT'S KIND OF PRICED FOR PERFECTION. EVERYTHING WOULD HAVE TO GO JUST RIGHT. THE ECONOMY WOULD HAVE TO SURPRISE TO THE UPSIDE A BUNCH OF TIMES DURING THE YEAR. I'M NOT SURE IF THAT'S A GOOD WAY TO THINK ABOUT 2018.
James Bullard on inflation:
WE'VE GOT CORE PC INFLATION AT 1.5%. MARKET BASE CORE IS AT 1.2% YEAR OVER YEAR. SO, YOU KNOW, WE'VE GOT A WAYS TO GO ON THIS INFLATION STORY. INFLATION HAS BEEN BELOW TARGET FOR A LONG TIME HERE. I DON'T THINK WE HAVE TO BE IN ANY HURRY.
James Bullard on global rates:
EUROPE, ESPECIALLY I THINK, SURPRISED TO THE UPSIDE. SO IF THEY HAVE ANOTHER GOOD YEAR, I WOULD EXPECT UPWARD PRESSURE ON RATES FROM THAT. ARE THEY GONNA HAVE ANOTHER GOOD YEAR? YOU KNOW, I DON'T KNOW ANY BETTER THAN ANYONE ELSE. BUT AGAIN, IF THE LONG END IS MOVING UP IN TANDEM WITH BETTER GROWTH PROSPECTS WORLDWIDE, THEN THE BOND MARKET IS DOING OUR WORK FOR US. THAT DOESN'T MEAN THE FED HAS TO MOVE TO A RESTRICTIVE STANCE.
James Bullard on 100 basis points:
THIS IS CONTINUITY. IT'S ALL ABOUT CONTINUITY. VERY SIMILAR TO THE YELLEN POLICY. VERY DELIBERATE. VERY DATA DEPENDANT. AND YOU KNOW, THE IDEA THAT WE'RE GOING TO GO IN LOCKSTEP WITHOUT PAYING ATTENTION TO THE ECONOMY, THAT'S TOO MUCH. I THINK THAT'S GOING TO BE DATA DEPENDANT. AND A LOT OF THINGS WOULD HAVE TO GO RIGHT THROUGH 2018 TO GET THE FULL 100 BASIS POINTS COMING IN.
James Bullard on interest rates:
BASED ON A CONCEPTION OF THE 80s AND 90s, WHICH IS NOT WORLD WE'RE LIVING IN TODAY. I THINK WE'RE JUST LIVING IN A LOWER LEVEL OF INTEREST RATES TODAY AND WE DON'T HAVE TO DO AS MUCH TO GET TO NEUTRAL.
James Bullard on reactive vs. proactive:
INFLATION WOULD HAVE TO MOVE UP FROM WHERE IT IS NOW, AT LEAST GET UP TO TARGET AND INFLATION EXPECTATIONS WOULD HAVE TO BE HIGHER THAN THEY ARE TODAY. THEY HAVE MOVED UP BUT THEY'RE STILL A LITTLE BIT SHY OF WHERE THEY WOULD NEED TO BE. AND YOU WOULD HAVE TO HAVE THE IDEA THAT WERE GOING TO BE TAMP DOWN ON INFLATION MOVING BACK TO TARGET FROM THE HIGH SIDE, BUT WE'RE NOT IN THAT ENVIRONMENT RIGHT NOW. CORE PC INFLATION AT 1.5%.
For more information contact:
Jennifer Dauble
CNBC
t: 201.735.4721
m: 201.615.2787
e: jennifer.dauble@nbcuni.com
Emma Martin
CNBC
t: 201.735.4713
e: emma.martin@nbcuni.com
About CNBC:
With CNBC in the U.S., CNBC in Asia Pacific, CNBC in Europe, Middle East and Africa, and CNBC World, CNBC is the recognized world leader in business news and provides real-time financial market coverage and business information to more than 409 million homes worldwide, including more than 91 million households in the United States and Canada. CNBC also provides daily business updates to 400 million households across China. The network's 15 live hours a day of business programming in North America (weekdays from 4:00 a.m. - 7:00 p.m. ET) is produced at CNBC's global headquarters in Englewood Cliffs, N.J., and includes reports from CNBC News bureaus worldwide. CNBC at night features a mix of new reality programming, CNBC's highly successful series produced exclusively for CNBC and a number of distinctive in-house documentaries.
CNBC also has a vast portfolio of digital products which deliver real-time financial market news and information across a variety of platforms including: CNBC.com; CNBC PRO, the premium, integrated desktop/mobile service that provides live access to CNBC programming, exclusive video content and global market data and analysis; a suite of CNBC mobile products including the CNBC Apps for iOS, Android and Windows devices; and additional products such as the CNBC App for the Apple Watch and Apple TV.
Members of the media can receive more information about CNBC and its programming on the NBCUniversal Media Village Web site at http://www.nbcumv.com/programming/cnbc.
For more information about NBCUniversal, please visit http://www.NBCUniversal.com.