Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic said the US central bank doesn’t need to keep raising interest rates unless inflation’s descent starts to stall.
(Bloomberg) — Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic said the US central bank doesn’t need to keep raising interest rates unless inflation’s descent starts to stall.
“Today, I don’t think we need to do anything more in terms of interest rates,” Bostic said Wednesday in a speech to the Metro Atlanta Chamber.
If inflation stalls out or goes in the other direction, that would be a clear sign we need to do more, he said.
Fed officials at their last policy meeting in September left their benchmark interest rate unchanged in a range of 5.25% to 5.5% — a 22-year high — and signaled they expect one more increase this year. The central bank will release the minutes of the Sept. 19-20 gathering on Wednesday at 2 p.m. in Washington.
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Bostic, who has been among the more dovish Fed officials this year, said Tuesday he doesn’t think policymakers need to raise interest rates any further and that policy is restrictive enough to bring inflation back to their 2% goal.
Several other officials this week have argued a surge in long-term Treasury yields since the September meeting may lessen the need for further rate hikes. Investors see a less than 20% chance of another quarter-point increase when policymakers next meet on Oct. 31-Nov. 1, according to pricing in futures markets.
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