Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard announced on Thursday that he was resigning to pursue a career in education
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 14th July, 2023) Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard announced on Thursday that he was resigning to pursue a career in education.
"It has been both a privilege and an honor to be part of the St. Louis Fed for the last 33 years, including serving as its president for the last 15 years," Bullard said in a statement announcing he would step down effective August 14.
Bullard will become the inaugural dean of the Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business at Purdue University in Indiana immediately after his resignation, the statement said.
Jim McKelvey, chair of the bank's board of directors, said the outgoing president will leave an indelible legacy from his stewardship of the Missouri chapter of the Federal Reserve.
Kathleen O'Neill Paese, first vice president at the bank, would fill in as interim president and COO, the statement said.
Bullard emerged as the Fed's most aggressive voice in using interest rate hikes to blunt inflation as US prices hit four-decade highs a year ago in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic measures and the trillions of dollars of relief spending.
Bullard issued lengthy but well-articulated essays and data sheets with solid empirical evidence to make the case why interest rates should go as high as inflation, emphasizing that a defeat for the US central bank would mean a defeat for the average American it was mandated to protect.
"We're trying to have this disinflationary pressure and that's supposed to come through higher rates," Bullard said in a Financial Times interview published in May. "Maybe this will fuel a slower disinflation or even a little bit more inflation going forward than what we intend."
Bullard's stance earned him the moniker of a Fed "superhawk," making him equally admired and loathed in US markets as his calls for ever-higher interest rates often led to sharp selloffs in stocks and other risk assets.
US inflation, as measured by the Consumer Price Index, stood at a four-decade high of 9.1% per year in June 2022. This week, the reading for June showed the index up just 3% year-on-year - just 100 basis points above the Fed's long-term target of 2%.
