Hours before the Dow closed today with a surge of more than 600-points, the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York was urging people not to overreact to volatility in the stock market—but it does seem to be affecting the bank president's own thinking about raising interest rates in September. NY1's Grace Rauh filed this report. 

"Don't panic"—that was the message from the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, William Dudley, amid the ongoing upheaval of financial markets around the globe.  

"It's important not to overreact to short term market developments because it is unclear whether this will be just be a temporary adjustment or something more persistent," says Dudley.

Dudley says that while he does want interest rates to rise this year, the argument for having the Federal Reserve increase its benchmark rate in September is now "less compelling." 

Until recently, it seemed all but certain the Fed would raise interest rates next month. Dudley added that as additional data on the economy comes in it might bolster the case for a rate hike. U.S. stocks rebounded on Wednesday, with the Dow leaping more than 600 points.

As for the city, the New York Fed chief says it has made an impressive comeback since the Great Recession with little help from Wall Street. The tech sector is instead playing an important role. 

"The growth of so-called Silicon Alley has not only helped the city bounce back from the recession but I think it's very, very important key for the city moving forward," Dudley says.

The city recovered jobs lost in the recession twice as fast as the country as a whole.

Strong job growth should be good news for Mayor Bill de Blasio but some observers say it means he may have bigger political problems than many realize.

The mayor's poll numbers have hit a new low recently. 

"People say, 'Well, don't worry about it. Michael Bloomberg's ratings were low at this point, too.' But Michael Bloomberg's numbers were low because the city economy was in a steep recession. De Blasio's numbers are going down as we have a robust economic expansion in the city creating 500,000 jobs in the last few years," says Greg David of Crain's NY Business/CUNY.

Business columnist Greg David argues that given the strength of the economy, the mayor's poll numbers should be higher.