Rise in U.S. auto, home sales show Fed policies are working: Williams

"The rebounding sectors are the interest-sensitive ones," San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams said in a speech to students at the University of Seattle that otherwise contained little about the outlook for the economy or monetary policy. The fact that auto sales are nearly back to their pre-crisis levels, and housing sales have much improved, are evidence that the Fed's efforts to push down borrowing costs are working, Williams said. The Fed has kept short-term rates near zero for more than five years and bought trillions of dollars of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities to encourage people and businesses to spend and invest. Williams, who was a key economic advisor to Janet Yellen when she ran the San Francisco Fed, has been a vocal supporter of the Fed's super-easy monetary policies.

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