Fed’s Waller favors doubling speed of bond taper in January, be done by April

(Reuters) – U.S. Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said on Friday that the Fed could double the pace of its bond buying taper in January, to be done by April and give more leeway on when to raise interest rates.

“If you double the pace of tapering in January, you could be done by the beginning of April and that brings you…policy space… should you need it. I’m not saying we have to but if you get the taper done, you could have a rate hike as early as the second quarter,” Waller said following a speech to the Center for Financial Stability in New York.

(Reporting by Lindsay Dunsmuir; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)