Fed Pauses: More Hikes to Come
Commentary
Federal Reserve (Fed) Board Chairman Jerome Powell has made himself and Fed guidelines clear. Although the board voted in June to pause the pattern of raising interest rates, policymakers are not finished with their anti-inflation efforts and will likely raise rates again before they are done.
Powell explained that the June pause was just that—a “skip” is how he termed it. A continuation of the effort to quell inflationary pressures and bring inflation’s pace back down to the target of 2 percent a year will likely involve more interest rate hikes in the coming months. For those anxious to see an end to this pattern, Powell did offer this: Interest rates, he said, are getting close to their final destination in this anti-inflation effort, though he wisely refused to put a figure on that destination….