Fed’s Barkin sees ‘no barrier’ to higher rates if inflation persists – FT

In an interview with the Financial Times late Monday, Thomas Barkin, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, “if inflation persists, or God forbid accelerates, there’s no barrier in my mind to further increases in rates.”

Additional quotes

“Would advocate for a “steady” approach that would “lessen the damage of any potential overcorrection”.

“It is not obvious to me that there is a financial stability challenge of having a higher rate path . . . I don’t see the urgency of making a different decision because of financial stability risks.”

“There’s a plausible story that demand is going to come down meaningfully because of waning fiscal stimulus, eroding personal balance sheets, the lagged effects of rate moves, credit tightening, and that cooling in demand will not soon afterwards have a similar effect on inflation.”

“I’m still looking to be convinced that story is going to turn into reality.”