Fed's Rosengren sets 6.5% jobless rate for exit (by Greg Robb)

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The unemployment rate would have to drop near 6.5% before the Federal Reserve should raise short-term interest rates, as long as inflation pressures remain tame, said Eric Rosengren, the president of the Boston Federal Reserve Bank, on Thursday. The Fed should keep running its third round of bond purchases, known as QE3, until the jobless rate falls under 7.25%, he added. Even then, the Fed should just assess inflation and the labor market to see whether to continue the QE3 purchases, he said. Rosengren is the third Fed official to lay out their suggestions on possible numeric targets for future Fed policy moves. Fed watchers think the central bank discussed adopting such triggers at their policy meeting last month. At the moment, the Fed has said it expects to keep rates exceptionally low until mid-2015 even if the economy improves. Rosengren's comments came in a speech at Babson College in Wellesley, Mass.