St. Louis Fed President Bullard says he’s stepping down in August

The St. Louis Federal Reserve announced Thursday that Jim Bullard will step down from his post as president, effective Aug. 14.

The bank said he’s leaving to take the position of dean at Purdue University’s Mitchell E. Daniels, Jr. School of Business, effective Aug. 15. It also added that Bullard has “recused himself from his monetary policy role on the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee and other related duties and has ceased all public speaking.”

“It has been both a privilege and an honor to be part of the St. Louis Fed for the last 33 years, including serving as its president for the last 15 years,” Bullard said in a statement. “I am also grateful to have worked alongside such dedicated and inspiring colleagues across the Federal Reserve System.”

The St. Louis Fed said it will hire a “national executive search firm” to assist in the search for Bullard’s replacement.

The announcement comes roughly two weeks before the Fed’s next policy meeting. According to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool, traders are pricing in a 92.4% chance for a 25 basis-point rate hike.

Back in May, Bullard said rates needed to go up by another half-point to curb inflation. Since then, the Fed has raised rates by 25 basis points.

“The risk with inflation is that it does not turn around and go back to a low level,” Bullard said. “As long as the labor market is so good it is a great time to get this problem behind us and not replay the 1970s.”

To be sure, Bullard is not a voting member on the policymaking committee this year.