The U.S. economy may be softer than the data suggest and this weakness may be helping to moderate inflation pressure, said Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin…
(Bloomberg) Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin said policymakers “have time” to work out whether they can hold interest rates steady or if they need to raise them further to get inflation to policymakers’ 2% goal. Most Read from BloombergIsrael Latest: Blinken Works on Gaza Aid as Biden Set to VisitPutin Arrives in China to Meet Xi on Rare International TripBiden Plans High-Stakes Israel Visit to Keep War From EscalatingYour Guide to Understanding the Roots of the Israel
Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin said on Tuesday that the U.S. central bank still has time to decide on its next interest rate move as anecdotal information points to an economy that’s slowing amid a cooling trend in inflation pressures. “I see an economy that is much further along the path to demand normalization than much of the data would tell you,” even as “the path for inflation isn’t clear yet,” Barkin said in the text of a speech to be delivered before the Real Estate Roundtable in Washington. Having held rates steady at the September Federal Open Market Committee meeting, Barkin said “we have time to see if we have done enough, or whether there’s more work to do.”
Recent rounds of economic data have shown unexpected resilience in the face of what have been very aggressive Fed rate hikes aimed at lowering inflation back to the central bank’s 2% target