Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker said, “in the upcoming months, in light of the cumulative tightening we have achieved, I expect we will slow the pace of our rate hikes as we approach a sufficiently restrictive stance.” Next year, “I expect we will hold at a restrictive rate for a while to let monetary policy do its work,” he added.
“As long as we are moving consistently and meaningfully to collapse inflation down, I think again we can continue to raise as we need to but also pause when it makes sense along that path,” Harker explained. “I just don’t think we need to go way up…and way down, that doesn’t make sense to me, policy wise.”
Harker also noted there are signs of deceleration in the economy. “Credit card purchase data indicate that consumer spending, which comprises around 70 per cent of economic activity in the United States, is slowing, with services and retail leading the decline,” he said. “Investment in housing has weakened, and even the boom in manufacturing, which has buoyed the economy, is starting to wane.”
