Fed's Fisher says his FOMC vote will reflect concerns on bond buying

Dallas Federal Reserve Bank President Richard Fisher said his votes on the central bank's policy panel in 2014 will reflect his concern that the Fed's bond-buying risks stoking inflation and exposing the institution politically. In an interview conducted on December 2 but posted to the Internet as a podcast on Monday, Fisher called the excess reserves piling up in the U.S. banking system potential "tinder" for inflation, and he said the central bank's plans to eventually unwind its extraordinary policies relied on an untested "theoretical exit strategy." Fisher, who rotates into a voting spot on the Fed's policymaking Federal Open Market Committee next month, expressed concern that as interest rates rise the Fed could begin to face paper losses on its massive portfolio. The Fed has held overnight interest rates near zero since December 2008 and has roughly quadrupled its balance sheet to about $4 trillion through three massive bond purchase programs.

via Business News - Yahoo Finance http://finance.yahoo.com/news/feds-fisher-says-fomc-vote-002553835.html