Possible Fed Won't Hike Rates Until 2012: Fed's Bullard

If the Federal Reserve sticks to the pattern set after the last two recessions, interest rates will remain unchanged until 2012, a Federal Reserve official said Wednesday. Assuming the recession ended this summer, Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said interest rate hikes could lie well into the future, assuming the central bank sticks to raising rates between two-and-a-half to three years after the end of a downturn, as it did for the past two recessions. But Bullard cautioned that pattern isn't set in stone, because central bank officials are mindful of the possible mistakes of keeping interest rates too low for too long,