CLEVELAND (Reuters) - The U.S. economy is on a sound footing so the Federal Reserve must continue raising interest rates so as to avoid employment or inflation getting out of hand and causing a recession, Cleveland Fed President Loretta Mester said on Friday.
The rate hikes, she said, "are meant to keep the economy healthy, not to slow down the expansion," she told a Fed-sponsored conference here. "The underlying economic fundamentals are pretty good right now."