Fed’s Bullard: I Hope US Economy Repeats Outcome of 1994'S Soft Landing

St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard speaks at a public lecture in Singapore, on Oct. 8, 2018. Edgar Su/Reuters

The U.S. Federal Reserve could raise interest rates swiftly this year and forge a “stellar” economy ahead if it can pull off a repeat of the success of the central bank’s 1994 tightening cycle, St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said on Monday.

“That tightening episode caused some disruption that year,” Bullard said during an event held by the AXA-Barcelona School of Economics in Barcelona, Spain. “However, I have always felt that set up the U.S. economy for a stellar performance in the second half of the 1990s ... I hope we can get something like that this time.”