Fed's Hammack sees no need to hike rates to tame higher inflation

Hammack reiterated her view that the Fed needs to keep monetary policy a touch tight to balance getting inflation down amid some softness in the jobs market

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Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Beth Hammack said that she does not think the US central bank needs to raise interest rates to combat inflation pressures she considers too high, while acknowledging how that view might change. Despite where inflation is, moving rates up is “not my base case right now,” Hammack said in a Reuters interview after a speech in which she reiterated her view that the Fed needs to keep monetary policy a touch tight to balance getting inflation down amid some softness in the jobs market.

“I'd like to be on the restrictive side of neutral,” Hammack said, “given all the risks that I see, the pressure that we have on inflation, which is still too high and trending in the wrong direction, and the emerging signs of softening that we see in the labor market.”

She laid out what could change her views on interest rate policy.