RALEIGH, N.C.--Federal Reserve officials are still likely to consider another reduction in the bond-buying program later this month, despite Friday's weak jobs report, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Jeffrey Lacker said Friday.
"It takes a lot more than one labor-market report to be convincing that the trend has shifted," Mr. Lacker told reporters after giving a speech at the Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, while emphasizing that he hadn't yet read details of Friday's jobs report. "And in my experience one employment report rarely has an effect by itself on monetary policy."
Mr. Lacker isn't currently a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee and thus won't directly influence whether the Fed further reduces its bond-bond buying program later this month. But he is familiar with policy makers' thinking.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke announced last month the central bank would reduce its monthly bond purchases to $75 billion from $85 billion, starting this month. He said future cuts would be considered in coming months if the economy continued to improve.
Mr. Lacker said he expected the possibility of another reduction to be discussed at the Fed's next policy meeting, Jan. 28-29. He said he expected the amount under discussion would be similar to the $10 billion Fed officials opted to cut in monthly bond purchases at the last meeting.
The Labor Department reported Friday the economy added a paltry 74,000 jobs in December, down sharply from the 200,000 or more jobs added in both the prior two months. Mr. Lacker said economists typically don't view data from a single month as indicating whether the economy is shifting into a higher or lower rate of growth. He pointed out that other reports recently show the U.S. recovery gaining momentum.