MNI BRIEF: Fed's Kaplan Sees 6.5% Growth This Year

Dallas Fed President Rob Kaplan said Friday he sees the economy growing 6.5% this year, and despite March's job boom there is slack in the labor market with a 10.7% U-6 unemployment rate that includes discouraged and marginally attached workers.

While there is currently a "price surge" in semiconductors, wood, food and other products, the "jury's out" on whether that will lead to sustained inflation into 2022, Kaplan said, pointing to uncertainty over cyclical and structural forces. He reiterated policy makers should not get into a "mode of being reactive" to forecasts and wait until actual data to adjust policy.

"The trick is to balance, not being unduly preemptive but also not being so reactive that you're late, and I think the challenge will be finding that balance," he said in Q&A remarks at a Texas A&M University Bitcoin Conference.