Yellen makes subtle change to outlook for inflation, job market

Washington

FEDERAL Reserve chair Janet Yellen offered a subtle change to her outlook from less than a week ago, saying that she and her colleagues were on watch for whether, rather than when, the US economy would show clear signs of improvement.

"Proceeding cautiously in raising the federal funds rate will allow us to keep the monetary support to economic growth in place while we assess whether growth is returning to a moderate pace, whether the labour market will strengthen further, and whether inflation will continue to make progress toward our 2 per cent objective," Ms Yellen said in testimony prepared for delivery on Tuesday before the Senate Banking Committee in Washington.

Just six days ago, Ms Yellen said that a cautious approach to interest rate hikes "will allow us to verify" that growth, jobs and inflation…