Fed's Kaplan says balance sheet plans won't shift rate hike path
Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Robert Kaplan said Wednesday that the central bank's plans to begin trimming its $4.5 trillion balance sheet as soon as this year do not alter his view of the appropriate rate hike path.
Speaking to reporters in Fort Worth, Texas, Kaplan said he still expects three rate hikes this year as his "baseline" case. Some Fed officials have talked about pausing rate hikes when the balance sheet reductions begin, but Kaplan called such talk confusing. Kaplan is a voter on the Fed's policy-setting panel this year.
(Reporting by Marice Richter, writing by Ann Saphir; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)