Goldman Sachs: Fed's move 'makes sense' ahead of likely Yellen exit

In an interview with CNBC today, Goldman Sachs chief economist Jan Hatzius noted that Fed’s plan to trim its balance sheet size doesn’t come as a surprise, given that the Fed Chair Yellen’s term expires in early 2018.

Key Quotes:

"I think it makes some sense. Personally I don't think it's really urgent for them to start reducing the balance sheet, but assuming that you want to do this at some point in the next year or two, I think it does make some sense to get started before the leadership transition at the Fed"

"There will likely be a new Fed chair after early 2018, when Janet Yellen's term comes to an end and having already established a bit of a baseline path for how the balance sheet is going to be adjusted probably makes sense at that point to reduce the uncertainty that you otherwise get in that period"