	fed governor supports commodity price guide robert heller a member of the board of governors of the federal reserve system said commodity prices could form a useful guide for setting domestic and international monetary policy speaking to the conservative heritage foundation heller said a broadly based commodity price index may be worth exploring as a guide to monetary policy in times of rising commodity prices monetary policy might be tightened and in times of falling commodity prices monetary policy might be eased he said commodities are also standardized to avoid measurement problems and occur at the beginning of production so as to give early warning signs of wholesale and retail changes there is no need to react to every small fluctuation in commodity prices or to do so on a daily basis heller said in a prepared text but if commodity prices exhibit a broad trend a policy action might be considered he said heller said using a broad based commodity price index as an indicator for monetary policy would also contribute to stabilized currency exchange rates commodity prices are generally uniform worldwide and prices for them are more consistent than for other types of goods he said he said other beneficial effects would be to stabilize export commodity prices for developing countries by using a commodity basket as a guidepost for monetary policy reuter 
