Fed rate hike 'makes sense,' says U.S. reserve bank president

Now that the United States is closing in on full employment and inflation is likely to rise to target levels, the "next step" should be to start gradually increasing rates, a top U.S. central banker said on Saturday. "My forecast is that we’ll reach our maximum employment mandate in the near future and I’m increasingly confident that inflation will gradually move back to our 2 percent goal," San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams said in remarks prepared for deliv