Speech at the National Association of Pension Funds Annual Investment Conference

In this speech, Paul Tucker discusses the Bank's commitment to dialogue with financial market participants as an input into its core monetary policy and financial stability mission, and comments on some current issues for policymakers. Monetary policy, with interest rates at 4%, is still stimulating the economy. Looking ahead, he discusses what the terms quot;gradualquot; and quot;cautionquot;, recently used about interest rates, mean for him. For financial stability, he believes that the environment looks somewhat more comfortable than a year or so ago, though it is not without hazards. These might stem from the quot;search for yieldquot; that has been a feature of international markets over the recent past. Global current account imbalances also create risks for financial markets, and there are risks of volatility in fixed-income markets given the inevitable uncertainty about the path of US interest rates