US monetary policy needs to be especially data-dependent now, Fed's Clarida says

The US central bank's second-highest ranking official reiterated the case for patience in judging the Federal Reserve's next moves on interest rates, while highlighting that inflation expectations were near the lower bound of the range which he believed was consistent with policymakers' mandate to pursue stable prices.

In remarks prepared for a speech at the National Association for Business Economics, in Washington D.C., Fed vicechairman, Richard Clarida, said: "I believe we can be patient and allow the data to flow in as we determine what future adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate may be appropriate."

According to Clarida, policymakers had also decided on the strategy that they would pursue for "concluding" the drawdown of their balance sheet.

"Global policy uncertainty remains elevated and financial conditions have been volatile, making efforts to extract signal from noise more challenging.

"Monetary policy at this juncture needs to be especially data dependent."