Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker commented on yesterday’s inflation report and said “it was good and it was moving down, but not quickly.” He added that FOMC will have to “let the data dictate” tightening, and, “It’s going to be above 5% in the Fed funds rate. How much above 5? It’s going to depend a lot on what we’re seeing.”
“In my view, we are not done yet… but we are likely close,” he said. “At some point this year, I expect that the policy rate will be restrictive enough that we will hold rates in place and let monetary policy do its work,” he noted in a prepared speech”.
“Rates are now at a level that allow us to slow down and proceed cautiously and, to my mind, the days of us raising 75 basis points at a time have surely passed,” Harker said. “Just at the last meeting, I voted for a hike of 25 basis points — what some would call slow but actually is closer to cruising speed when it comes to tightening.”
