Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin on Wednesday was cautious about the outlook for inflation and said he wasn’t ready to say that the central bank was finished raising interest rates.
During a talk at a CNBC event, Barkin was asked if he was not willing to take a rate hike off the table. “That’s right,” he answered.
Barkin said he was skeptical that inflation was on a smooth track back to the 2% target.
“I’m skeptical,” Barkin said. “I’m totally open to it. It’d be great if it did come down. But I’m still in the looking-to-be-convinced category rather than the convinced.”
The 10-year Treasury note yield
BX:TMUBMUSD10Y
has fallen to 4.29% as markets now expect the Fed to cut rates before June.
The Richmond Fed president said he thinks inflation is going to be more stubborn than he would like, and that talk of rate cuts “is premature.”
Businesses are going to continue to at least try to raise prices, Barkin said.
“I just don’t know people are going to give up that power until they have to,” Barkin said.
Earlier Wednesday, Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic said that a survey by his staff had found that firms were losing pricing power.
Barkin will be a voting member of the Fed’s interest-rate committee next year.
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