Boston Federal Reserve Bank President Collins (Susan Collins) said on Friday (18th) that there is little evidence that inflationary pressures are weakening, and the Federal Reserve (Fed) may need to raise interest rates by another 3 yards in order to seek to control inflation.
The Federal Reserve has raised the federal funds rate 6 times this year, including 3 yards for 4 times in a row. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and some officials have indicated that the Fed may slow down the pace of raising interest rates in December to avoid excessive tightening risks of.
However, Collins, one of the voting members of this year’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), said on Friday: “Restoring price stability remains a top priority, and the Fed clearly has more work to do, which is expected to require further increases in the federal funds rate. Then keep interest rates at a sufficiently tight level for a period of time.”
“The Fed is at a stage right now where all possible increases are on the table until we decide policy is tight enough, and a three-yard hike is still on the table, and I think it’s important to bring that up as well,” Collins said. .”
U.S. producer price index (PPI) data also cooled in October, following a slowdown in U.S. consumer price index (CPI) in October, but Collins sees no clear, significant evidence that headline inflation is falling .
“We’re starting to see some hopeful signs, although we’re certainly not seeing clear and consistent evidence that the labor market is cooling and prices for services are still very high,” she said.
Hawkish Fed officials have taken turns emphasizing the prospect of rate hikes in recent days, including Bullard and others reiterating that the U.S. central bank cannot repeat its policy mistakes of the 1970s.
The Federal Reserve hawk, James Bullard, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, said on Thursday that the current interest rate hike has not yet reached a level that can prove sufficiently restrictive, suggesting that the benchmark interest rate must rise to 5%-7% % to curb inflation.
Neel Kashkari, president of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank, said it was difficult to know how far the Fed would have to raise interest rates, but it should not stop until inflation clearly peaked.
Collins added on Friday that there will be new data coming out before the December FOMC meeting, which will affect her view on raising interest rates, while the Fed’s September end-point rate forecast (4.6%) is within a reasonable range.
