Federal Reserve Governor Philip Jefferson and Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Patrick Harker suggested Wednesday that the central bank could pause rate hikes at its next policy meeting.
Jefferson, President Biden's nominee to be vice chair of the Fed's Board of Governors, noted that such a decision wouldn't necessarily mean the Fed was done hiking rates.
“A decision to hold our policy rate constant at a coming meeting should not be interpreted to mean that we have reached the peak rate for this cycle,” Jefferson said in a speech at a conference in Washington. “Skipping a rate hike at a coming meeting would allow the committee to see more data before making decisions about the extent of additional policy firming.”
Harker, speaking in Philadelphia, said “I am in a camp increasingly coming into this meeting of thinking that we really should skip, not pause,” adding that “we've got to get to a point where we believe policy is restrictive and I think we're close if not at that point right now.
Harker said he wanted to look at two key pieces of data: the May jobs report due out Friday and another read on inflation via the consumer price index on the first day of the Fed's next policy meeting, June 13.
“I think we have to be ready that we might have to do more and I'm fully aware we have to do that and willing to do that, but I want to give it a little bit of time.”