Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) — Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said the Fed will probably signal the path for interest rates based on "qualitative" judgments of the economy, moving away from a pledge to begin considering higher rates when unemployment falls below 6.5 percent.

Policy thresholds — committing the Fed to record low rates so long as the outlook for inflation doesn't exceed 2.5 percent and unemployment is 6.5 percent or higher — "have been very useful" and "served their purpose" by anchoring interest-rate expectations when unemployment was "much higher," Bullard said today on a panel in New York. He doesn't vote on monetary policy this year.

The jobless rate unexpectedly declined in January to 6.6 percent, according to a Labor Department report, just above the Fed's 6.5 percent threshold for considering an increase in the benchmark interest rate.