Fed’s Barkin: A lot of time still before deciding on size of September rate hike

Richmond Federal Reserve Bank President Thomas Barkin said on Friday that FOMC policymakers had “a lot of times still” before they decide on the size of the September rate increase, as reported by Reuters.

Additional takeaways

“Fed will need to move rates to restrictive territory but will take signal from the economy on how high that needs to be.”

“At this point, underlying demand seems stronger than it did as of the last Fed meeting.”

“A lot of the recent decline in core inflation was due to volatile items.”

“Expect poor productivity results to change through revisions to GDP, jobs.”

Fed is now balancing urge to get where it needs to go on rates against uncertainty over the impact on the economy.”

Market reaction

The dollar rally continues after these comments and the US Dollar Index was last seen rising 0.7% on the day at 108.20.