Federal Reserve members say there's no hurry to raise interest rates

WASHINGTON, Sept. 12 (UPI) -- Some members of the U.S. Federal Reserve said Monday that the feeling among policymakers in the central bank is that there's no rush to raise interest rates at its meeting later this month.

The Fed's 10-member Federal Open Market Committee will meet Sept. 20-21 to discuss the possibility of raising the federal funds rate for the first time this year. The panel last raised rates in December.

Experts and Fed chair Janet Yellen have said for months that a rate increase is coming for 2016, up from its current 1/4- to 1/2-point rate range. A number of factors, though, have kept rates unchanged at the Fed's last few meetings.

"There doesn't appear to be huge urgency to do anything," Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari said Monday.

Dennis Lockhart, Atlanta's Federal Reserve Bank president, added that there will be "serious discussion" at the meeting but emphasized that he doesn't feel there's a sense of impatience with regard to raising the rates.

Fed Governor Lael Brainard said in a speech Monday that the FOMC's decision to leave rates alone has so far worked well.

Continuing inflation below 2 percent and uncertainty over Britain's exit from the European Union are just two factors in recent months that have left rates unchanged.

Last week, U.S. stocks took a dip on speculation that the Fed is leaning toward a rate hike at this month's meeting.

Monday, stocks rebounded on the cooler speculation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 238 points, the S&P 500 rose 31 and the Nasdaq jumped 85 points by the end of trading.