Fed’s Fisher to Vote Against Extending QE2

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher, who has repeatedly said he would not support any more large-scale asset purchases after the central bank’s $600 billion bond-buying program ends in June, said he may vote to discontinue the current QE2 program if it proves “counterproductive.”

“I remain doubtful enough as to its efficacy that if at any time between now and June, it should prove demonstrably counterproductive, I will vote to curtail or perhaps discontinue it,” Fisher said in remarks prepared for delivery to an Institute of International Bankers’ conference in Washington.

“The liquidity tanks are full, if not brimming over. The Fed has done its job,” he said. As it is, Fisher said there is “plenty of liquidity,” money is “cheap” and financial markets are “flush” with cash. Fisher repeated that he would vote against extending or enlarging the purchases “barring some frightful development.”

Fisher, a voting member of the Fed’s policymaking FOMC, who next meet March 15, said that while the recovery is “well underway,” the U.S. economy still faces an “arduous” road ahead. But he said additional quantitative easing would not help improve its performance.

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