Fed's Fisher: stronger dollar good for U.S. jobs

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Sharp gains in the U.S. dollar that have spurred grumbling from some big U.S. companies about the impact on profits are actually a positive sign for U.S. job creation, a top Federal Reserve official said on Friday.

"CEOs that have international operations complain about it," Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher told Reuters in an interview. "I hear from every one of them - it offsets their powerful earnings here domestically."

Fisher said he's inclined to take those complaints with a grain of salt. Fisher has a network of top CEOs with whom he talks before every Fed policy-setting meeting, and he noted that his business contacts uniformly told him they've been seeing a strong pickup in activity since late December and through the first three weeks of January.

"The more income and investment flows we get, the better it is for our companies big and small to go out and hire American workers," Fisher added. "And it does help on the consumption side, if, for example, oil is denominated in dollars, it just helps us have cheaper goods."

While a stronger dollar does hurt net exports, he said, it puts less of a damper on U.S. job creation than it may have in the past because U.S. economy has become less export driven.

The U.S. dollar index <.DXY> has advanced for seven straight months through the end of January, marking the longest streak of gains since the greenback was floated as a fiat currency in 1971. In 2014 the index rose 12.87 percent, its best yearly performance since a 13 percent gain in 1997.

Fisher spoke just two days after the Federal Reserve signaled it remains on track with its plans to raise interest rates this year, marking what he called a "tipping point" in policy toward preparing for a rate rise.

"The statement makes it clear that at some point, we are getting closer, we?ve reached the tipping point. The tipping point is rates will go up, the question is when," he said.

Fisher, who will retire after the Fed's next policy-setting meeting in March, has long called for the Fed to start tightening sooner rather than later.

But, he said, he is "resigned" to the fact that his view is in the minority at the Fed, and told Reuters he would not have dissented if he had a vote at this week's policy-setting meeting.

(Reporting by Ann Saphir with reporting by Jonathan Spicer and Dan Bases in new York; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli)