US policymaker calls for December rate rise

Now that the US is closing in on full employment and inflation is likely to rise to target levels, the “next step” should be to start gradually increasing rates, a top US central banker said at the weekend.

“I do think it makes sense to gradually remove the policy of accommodation that helped get the economy to where we are,” San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams told the Arizona Council on Economic Education.

The comments suggest that Mr Williams, a centrist policymaker who was Fed Chair, Janet Yellen’s, chief researcher when she had his job before moving to Washington DC, is leaning towards support of a December rate hike.