Central Banks
Fed’s Bostic Open on Size of Rate Hike at Next Meeting
- Favors raising rates and then staying on hold well into 2024
- Recent price data encouraging but premature to declare victory
Raphael Bostic
Photographer: David Paul Morris/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic said the central bank still needs to keep raising interest rates despite cooler-than-expected wage data and indicated he’s open to a second straight half-point increase.
“Today, I’d be comfortable with either a 50 or a 25, and if I start to hear signs that the labor market is starting to ease a bit in terms of its tightness, then I might lean more in the 25 basis-point position,” Bostic said Friday during an interview with CNBC. His peak rate projection of 5% to 5.25% is “the range I think we need to move to if the economy proceeds as I expect which is continual gradual slowdown.”