Rates could rise 'early next year': Fed's Fisher
Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher told CNBC on Friday that in his view the date for interest rate "liftoff" has been moved forward. He also believes that more officials at the central bank are beginning to "digest his views."
Fisher said he believes interest rates could start rising early in 2015 if the economic data keep coming in stronger. "Sometime early next year," he continued, "personally I do believe it's possible."
Fisher, an outspoken hawk, is a voting member on the Fed's policy-setting group, the Federal Open Market Committee.
"I feel personally we are closer to liftoff than we were, people felt we were, the market assumed we were, sometime late in 2015. I believe we moved that forward significantly," he said in a "Squawk Box" interview, ahead of the government's Friday morning release of the July employment report.
Fisher said he did not feel the need to dissent at the most recent Fed meeting. "I'm very pleased to see where we seem to be moving, this is again my own opinion."
Meanwhile, Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser said Friday that central bank policy is inconsistent with "clear progress" made by the U.S. economy this year. He's one of the Fed's most vocal proponents of tighter monetary policy.
In a statement explaining his rationale for dissenting, Plosser said he objected to the Fed's pledge to keep rates at current levels "for a considerable time" after it wraps up its massive bond buying.
After its July meeting, the Fed stayed the course Wednesday afternoon with ultra-easy monetary policy. While the central bank voted to cut its monthly bond-buying program another $10 billion per month, policymakers left its short-term interest rate target near zero.
"The general tone is we're getting confirmation [of an economic rebound] through the data and the anecdotal evidence we get—all of us talk to business leaders around the country," Fisher told CNBC on Friday. "Things are moving in the right direction and that's good for the real economy. It has been enabled by uber-cheap money."
Read MoreFed unswayed by growth, keeps easing in place
The big second-quarter rebound in economic growth from the government Wednesday morning did nothing to change the Fed's outlook. The Commerce Department said its first read on second-quarter GDP showed a better-than-expected 4 percent increase—after a revised 2.1 contraction in the first quarter, which was not as slow as previously thought.
The next Federal Reserve meeting is set for Sept. 16-17, with a scheduled release of the latest economic projections from the central bank, along with a news conference by Fed Chair Janet Yellen.
—CNBC's Matthew J. Belvedere