© Reuters.
Investing.com – Boston Fed President Susan Collins said the Fed should raise interest rates aggressively to tame high levels in the United States.
Collins’ comments came in remarks prepared for a presentation at the University of Chicago Booth Business School conference in New York.
Commenting on the recent high inflation data, she continued: “Inflation remains very high, and recent data – including several strong labor market indicators as well as faster-than-expected retail sales, producer price inflation and personal consumption expenditures prices – all reinforce the view that we have more to go. of work to do, to bring inflation down to the 2% target.”
Collins said she was “optimistic” that the Fed could bring down inflation without triggering a “significant deflation” and added that she “is well aware of the many risks and uncertainties, including the risk of a loss of business and consumer confidence.”
Collins is one of the newest chairmen of the US central bank’s regional banks and is not a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee to set rates this year. Collins, who took over as chair of the Boston Fed in July 2022, has voted in favor of every major rate hike the Fed made in the past year while a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee.
Expectations are now unanimous that the Fed will raise interest rates in 3 consecutive meetings, to reach the range of 5.25% – 5.50% (5.5%) in the next June meeting.
There are also expectations that the Fed will take a step contrary to the market’s expectations at the present time, and raise it at the next meeting by 50 basis points instead of the 25 basis points that the markets are waiting for.
The next Federal Reserve meeting will be in March, followed by the May meeting, and then the June meeting.
