Fed's Harker reiterates support for moving to 25bp rate hikes

Fed’s Harker reiterates support for moving to 25bp rate hikes

Time Stamp: January 18, 2023 5:09 PM
Source Node: 1907042

Reuters reports that Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Patrick Harker reiterated on Wednesday that he’s ready for the US central bank to move to a slower pace of interest rate rises amid some signs that hot inflation is cooling off.

“High inflation is a scourge, leading to economic inefficiencies and hurting Americans of limited means disproportionately,” Harker said in prepared remarks for a speech that closely followed remarks from earlier in the month. To get inflation under control, the Fed’s “goal is to slow the economy modestly and to bring demand more in line with supply,” he told a group in Newark, Delaware.

Key comments

  • Reiterates support for moving to 25-basis-point interest rate hikes.
  • Reiterates that the time for supercharging rate hikes is over.
  • Says fed committed to lowering inflation back to 2% target.
  • Harker expects Fed to raise rates ‘a few more times’ this year.
  • Expects inflation to moderate to 3.5% this year.
  • Says inflation will fall to fed’s 2% target in 2025.
  • Expects US economy to grow 1% this year, unlikely to suffer recession.
  • Expects US unemployment rate to tick up to 4.5% this year before ebbing.

US Dollar update

It has been a volatile spell in the forex space on Wednesday. The US Dollar has been whipsawed on the back of the Bank of Japan’s deliberations and subsequent announcements combined around the weak US data that came in the US session.  

However, the bulls moved into the greenback as per the above chart following hawkish remarks from the likes of Fed’s James Bullard that helped to flip sentiment on Wall Street. However, the DXY index W-formation could be a pull on the US Dollar with 102.20 vulnerable of a restest. 

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