FILE PHOTO: Randal Quarles, Federal Reserve board member and Vice Chair for Supervision, takes part in a swearing-in ceremony for Chairman Jerome Powell at the Federal Reserve in Washington, U.S., Febuary 5, 2018. REUTERS/Aaron P. Bernstein/File Photo
May 4, 2018
PALO ALTO, Calif. (Reuters) – Federal Reserve Board Governor Randal Quarles on Friday said the U.S. central bank does not target asset prices and will not cut rates simply if the stock-market tanks.
“I don’t think that anyone should be expecting that, you know, sort of, a change in valuation, a rapid change in equity valuations that simply reflect a reversion of asset prices to the mean, as opposed to some signal about developments in the real economy, would result in an action by the Fed,” Quarles said in response to a question at a Hoover Institution conference on whether there is a Fed “put” by which the Fed uses rate cuts to fight stock-market declines.
(Reporting by Ann Saphir)
