Yellen: “What would cause the committee to consider a pause is a notable change in the outlook,”

FXStreet (London) - In the Q&A following her pre-released testimony before the House Financial Services Committee, Janey Yellen responded to questions on the pace of quantitative easing tapering and whether it would be affected by labour market weakness and by recent disappointing non-farm payroll data.

Responding to a question from Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Yellen responded: “I was surprised that the jobs reports and the January pace of job creation was running under what I had anticipated, but we have to be very careful about jumping to conclusions about what those reports mean.”

Yellen maintained the stance that the below-normal temperatures that have hit the US were a factor in the below-expected numbers but added: “I think it’s important for us to take our time to assess just what our significance of this is,” ahead of the Fed’s next federal open market committee meeting in March. She added that it would take a considerable change in the outlook for the committee to change its pace of tapering.

The Fed’s monthly asset purchases currently stand at USD65bn after the Fed moved to taper by a further USD10bn at its January meeting.