Fed’s Harker: Interest rate hikes deliberate, methodical

Philadelphia Fed President and FOMC member Patrick Harker said on Tuesday that interest rate hikes are to be “deliberate” and “methodical”.

Inflation is “far higher than … we are comfortable with” Harker said, caveating that “there are some signs in the data, and in what we hear from our contacts, that supply chain constraints are finally easing”.

Harker also mentioned that there is the potential for a “significant uptick” in the service sectors of large, Democrat-leaning cities that had the toughest pandemic rules. Harker did not speak on whether he would prefer 25 or 50 bps rate hikes in the coming months.