Fed official says rate rise on track for September

Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta president Dennis Lockhart said the US is ready to start raising official interest rates and it would take a “significant deterioration” in data to delay a September rate rise. “I think there is a high bar right now to not acting, speaking for myself.” In April he had said he did not want to see “regression” in the economy but now he thinks the US is “not losing ground…the economy is performing at quite a satisfactory level.” He then went on to say the Fed should “put significant weight on the accumulated progress we have seen quite literally over a number of years…I won’t be overly influenced by just the latest thing I’ve heard on the economy.” Lockhart is seen as being in the middle of Federal Reserve opinions and therefore his views are being seen as significant. US Treasurys rose 6bps on the day.