3 Fed policy hawks push early taper despite risk from Delta

Three of the Federal Reserve’s leading hawks, on the eve of the central bank’s annual Jackson Hole symposium, urged that policy makers move quickly to slow asset purchases despite the risk from the spreading delta variant. Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas President Robert Kaplan said he favors an announcement at the central bank’s September meeting to begin tapering bond buying and implementing it in October or shortly after. St. Louis’s James Bullard called for a start in the fall — finishing by the end of the first quarter in 2022, while Kansas City Fed’s Esther George urged an early move begin this year.