Fed's Bullard: plan is to keep rates low past turn

JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming (Reuters) - Financial markets have not fully understood that the U.S. Federal Reserve's commitment to keep benchmark interest rates exceptionally low for an extended period means rates will stay low beyond when policy makers normally would raise them, a top Fed official said on Friday.

"I don't think markets have really digested what that means," St Louis Fed President James Bullard said in an interview.

"What that means is you'll keep the rate low beyond the point where simple rules of thumb would tell you you'd be raising rates again."

(Reporting by Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Gary Hill)