Just MORE possible collateral damage from Trump’s Iran War…..
A top Federal Reserve official said Monday that an interest rate hike could be appropriate if inflation remains persistently abovethe central bank’s 2% target, the latest sign that some policymakers are moving away from a bias toward reducing borrowing costs.
Beth Hammack, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, said in an interview with The Associated Press that her general preference is for the Fed keep its benchmark interest rate unchanged “for quite some time.”
And she also said the Fed might have to cut its rate if higher gas prices caused the economy to slow and unemployment to rise. But if inflation remained elevated, a rate hike could be needed, she said.
“I can foresee scenarios where we would need to reduce rates … if the labor market deteriorates significantly,” Hammack said. “Or I could see where we might need to raise rates if inflation stays persistently above our target.”…
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Other Fed officials have recently opened the door to rate hikes, including Austan Goolsbee, president of the Chicago Fed. And minutes of the Fed’s meeting in late January said that several of the 19 officials on the rate-setting committee supported altering the post-meeting statement to reflect the possibility of “upward adjustments” to rates.
A rate hike would almost certainly prompt President Donald Trump to lash out at the Fed, which he has harshly criticized for not cutting rates further. He has called for the central bank’s key rate to be lowered to 1%, down from its current level of about 3.6%…..
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