Referendum raises significant long-term questions about UK, EU, Fed's Lockhart says

A rate hike in the US in June is possible but depends entirely on the incoming economic data between now and then, the president of the Federal Reserve bank of Atlanta said on Thursday evening.

In an interview with CNBC, Dennis Lockhart said he wanted to see more "coherent" picture overall between solid employment reports and the overall growth picture.

"Today we kind of have a disconnect between the growth numbers and the employment numbers. Clearly, I'd also like to see inflation numbers continue to move in the right direction," Lockhart said.

However, he stuck to his view that growth in the remaining three quarters of the year would be "much better" than in the first quarter.

"I'm laughing because I think we should keep the option open. But I am very much at the moment sort of on the fence and it will depend how the data come in."

As regards Friday's monthly jobs numbers, the policy-maker said a tally of non-farm payrolls of 200,000 was a good threshold in terms of deciding how good or not the report was.

He also weighed in on the upcoming 23 June referendum, indicating that some of the uncertainty in markets was short-term in nature.

However, a "lot of it" was also profound long-term uncertainty about the UK, the European Union, he said.

"I can't be more detailed than that. I mean, I don't have exacting scenarios of how."

The rate-setter hesitated to take a firm position when asked if the Fed would forego a rate rise if the polls heading into the Brexit vote were showing both camps running neck-and-neck.

US electoral uncertainty in the US may also be affecting consumption and investment decisions in the States, he said.

In particular, the interviewer queried Lockhart about the anti-trade stance adopted by the two leading candidates in the US presidential race.

"So, I think the election, it's fair to say, could be a factor in this year's economy. Longer-term, it really will depend on what the elected president is able to actually achieve and implement."