Federal Reserve official calls for more money printing

NEW YORK — More action by the U.S. Federal Reserve to boost growth will likely be needed if the economic outlook doesn't improve, a top Federal Reserve official said on Friday.

William Dudley, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, said current conditions of high unemployment and low inflation are "unacceptable".

"Further action is likely to be warranted unless the economic outlook evolves in such a way that makes me more confident that we will see better outcomes for both employment and inflation before too long," Dudley told a conference of business journalists in New York.

Dudley, seen as one of the more dovish Fed presidents, said the costs of the tools the Fed has available to ease policy further "do not appear prohibitive".

The U.S. central bank said at its most recent policy-setting meeting that it stands ready to help the recovery if necessary. It has already cut interest rates to near zero and pumped $1.7 trillion into the financial system through purchases of longer-term Treasury securities and mortgage-related debt.

Many analysts expect the Fed to start a new round of bond purchases, or quantitative easing, as soon as its next meeting in early November.

Read the rest here.