WASHINGTON, June 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is considering holding a press conference after every policy meeting rather than every other meeting, according to local media.
"Some of Mr. Powell's colleagues believe his direct style of communication makes him well suited to deliver press conferences more often and have recommended he make the change," the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
The Fed has maintained the every-other-meeting schedule since beginning press conferences in 2011, but the central bank has fallen into the pattern of making major policy changes only at meetings followed by a news conference, according to the Journal.
"We've evolved to a place where the market only thinks we'll move if there's a press conference," Raphael Bostic, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, was quoted as saying.
"It's important that the market believes that we could potentially move at any meeting that we have," he added.
The Fed holds eight policy meetings every year and the chairman currently holds quarterly press conferences during the months of March, June, September, and December.
Holding a press conference after every policy meeting could also give the chairman more opportunities to explain the central bank's monetary policy decisions, according to the report.
"At every meeting, there's a statement, and at many meetings, there's a change in policy. Any one of those-even a no change in policy-demands some kind of explanation," former Fed Vice Chairman Alan Blinder was quoted as saying.
Powell said in March that he didn't want any change in the format of the press conference to be misread as a signal of plans to raise rates more aggressively.
"I would want to think very carefully about it and make sure that no one would take more frequent press conferences as a signal of the path of policy," he said.
Powell is expected to hold its second press conference as Fed Chairman on Wednesday and tell reporters whether it's worth doing more press conferences.
