, Columnist
The Fed Will Stick to Its 3-Hike Plan — for Now
The central bank will stay the course as long as it remains confident the projected path will yield 2 percent inflation.
Jerome Powell is staying the course.
Photographer: Alex Wong/Getty ImagesThis article is for subscribers only.
Predictions of four Federal Reserve interest-rate hikes this year are on the rise. But the central bank has two questions to answer before it decides to act more aggressively than planned: How much preemptive tightening is already in the pipeline, and how symmetric is the 2 percent inflation target?
It doesn’t take much imagination to tell a story of a more hawkish Fed. The economy finished 2017 with considerable momentum that seems to be carrying forward into 2018. Add to that an already low unemployment rate and a surprise inflation boost in January, and it’s easy to see why central bankers might panic and think they are falling behind the curve.