Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker told WSJ that “there’s no immediate need to move rates in either direction at this point in my view”. He noted that the economy “continues to be strong” with “very strong labor market”. If the economy was “weakening substantially”, he would support a rate cut. But “at this point, I do not see that”.
Harker acknowledged that inflation below 2% target is a concern. But he added, “it’s one that I don’t see as an imminent crisis”. Also, he believed “we can give it some time to move back up to 2%.
Additional, he didn’t se December rate hike as a “particularly bad move” as it was not significant at that point. For now he thought the “prudent path” was to “hold steady and see how the economy evolves”.
