Fed’s Barkin: We will persist until inflation comes down

Richmond Federal Reserve President Thomas Barkin has crossed the wires. 

Key comments

• We will persist until inflation comes down.
• We are seeing promising signs of inflation.
• It would have made sense for the Fed to start tightening earlier

On Friday he said he is ready to act more “deliberatively” on consideration of the pace of Fed rate hikes going forward but said rates could continue rising for longer and to a higher end point than previously expected.

Speaking in a CNBC interview, Barkin said:

“When you get your foot on the brake, you think about steering in a very different way. You pump the brakes, and sometimes you act a little bit more deliberatively, and I’m ready to do that. And I think the implication of that is probably a slower rate of pace of rate increases, a longer pace of rate increases and potentially a higher endpoint.”

Meanwhile, a bearish US Dollar sentiment emerged from last Friday’s activity in the US session. There are signs of some easing of market conditions following last week’s mixed Nonfarm Payrolls report that shows that the Unemployment Rate rose to 3.7%. Investors are hopeful that the much sought-after Federal Reserve pivot could be on the horizon that would give relief to global stock markets. Consequently, US yields and the greenback are stalling.