Central Banks
Fed on Track for Rate-Hike Downshift After Cool Inflation Data
- Officials voice support for quarter-point increase next month
- Key inflation gauges post smallest 12-month advances since ‘21
The Marriner S. Eccles Federal Reserve building in Washington, DC.
Photographer: Al Drago/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
The Federal Reserve is on track to downshift to smaller interest-rate increases following a further cooling in US inflation, though it’s likely to keep hiking until price pressures show more definitive signs of slowing.
Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker, speaking Thursday morning shortly after the Labor Department’s release of consumer price data, said rate hikes of a quarter-percentage point “will be appropriate going forward,” following bigger increases throughout most of 2022. Harker’s comments echoed remarks a day earlier from Susan Collins, his counterpart at the Boston Fed.