Fed's Evans sees no need yet to change policy (by Greg Robb)

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - Despite some improvements in the economic outlook, the Federal Reserve is not yet at the point where it needs to change the stance of monetary policy, said Charles Evans, the president of the Chicago Fed on Thursday. "Slow progress in closing resource gaps and a medium-term outlook for inflation that is too low lead me to conclude that substantial policy accommodation continues to be appropriate," Evans said in a speech to the Global Corporate Treasurer Forum in Chicago. Earlier Thursday, William Dudley, the president of the New York Fed, was also cautious about the economic outlook, saying in a speech that the recovery had a considerable way to go to regain its strength. Dudley is a voting member of the FOMC. Evans will not vote until 2013.