Patience likely to extend beyond first rate hike - Fed's Rosengren

(Reuters) - The Federal Reserve can likely be patient not only on the timing of the first interest rate hike but on the series of subsequent hikes, a top Fed official said on Thursday, adding he doesn't expect the coming policy tightening to appreciably slow the U.S. economy.

Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren, speaking in Wisconsin, did not estimate when the U.S. central bank would raise rates for the first time in nearly a decade. But he said that 10-year U.S. Treasuries, which are yielding about 2 percent, were "quite low" given the Fed aims to hit a 2 percent inflation goal.

Inflation is currently about 1.5 percent according to the Fed's preferred measure, a level Rosengren, a dovish Fed official, said was "well below" target.

(Reporting by Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli)