Fed needs ways to adjust its balance sheet faster, says Daly

(Reuters) – The U.S. central bank needs to learn to be more nimble with its massive balance sheet, San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President Mary Daly said on Thursday, citing lessons learned from late last year when the Fed delayed raising interest rates to fight rising inflation because it was still buying bonds.

“The funds rate is a very nimble tool… it can go from zero to a tight path really quickly,” Daly said at an event at Boise State University. The balance sheet “is like a tanker ship, and we have got to think of ways to be more effective at allowing that tanker ship to turn more speedily or allowing it to be turning directionally while we are raising the funds rate.”

(Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Leslie Adler)