The U.S. Federal Reserve’s interest rate increase in December likely tipped monetary policy into a restrictive setting that may be pushing the economy farther from one of the Fed’s key goals, James Bullard, president of the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank, said on Thursday. Bullard, in remarks to reporters after an appearance at St. Cloud State University in Minnesota, said that on an inflation-adjusted basis he now views the current federal funds rate as “a little bit restrictive.” “We are putting downward pressure rather than upward pressure on inflation” that may be drifting further below the Fed’s 2 percent ... (full story)