Fed will raise interest rates more aggressively if needed, Powell says

The US central bank must move "expeditiously" to bring too-high inflation to heel, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Monday, adding that it could use bigger-than-usual interest rate hikes if needed to do so.

"The labor market is very strong, and inflation is much too high," Powell told a National Association for Business Economics conference. "There is an obvious need to move expeditiously to return the stance of monetary policy to a more neutral level, and then to move to more restrictive levels if that is what is required to restore price stability."

In particular, he added, "if we conclude that it is appropriate to move more aggressively by raising the federal funds rate by more than 25 basis points at a meeting or meetings, we will do so."

Investors responded to Powell's remarks by pricing in a better-than-even chance of a half-percentage-point interest rate hike at the Fed's policy meeting in May. US stocks extended earlier losses.

Fed policymakers last week raised interest rates for the first time in three years and signaled ongoing rate hikes ahead. Most of them see the short-term policy rate - pinned for two years near zero - at 1.9 per cent by the end of this year, a pace that could be achieved with quarter-percentage-point increases at each of their next six policy meetings.

By the end of next year, Fed policymakers expect the central bank's benchmark overnight interest rate to be at 2.8 per cent, bringing borrowing costs to a level where they would actually start biting into growth. Most Fed policymakers see the "neutral" level as somewhere between 2.25 per cent and 2.5 per cent.

Powell also repeated on Monday that the Fed's reductions to its massive balance sheet could start by May.

The US unemployment rate currently is at 3.8 per cent and per-person job vacancies are at a record high.

Also read: Soaring prices threaten global food inflation

Inflation risks

Inflation by the Fed's preferred gauge, however, is three times the central bank's 2 per cent goal, pushed upward by snarled supply chains that have taken longer to fix than most had expected and that could get worse as China responds to new Covid-19 surges with fresh lockdowns.

Adding to the pressure on prices, Russia's war in Ukraine is pushing up the cost of oil, threatening to move inflation even higher. The United States, now the world's biggest oil producer, is better able to withstand an oil shock now than in the 1970s, Powell noted.

Although the Fed in normal times would not likely tighten monetary policy to address what in the end may be a temporary spike in commodity prices, Powell said, "the risk is rising that an extended period of high inflation could push longer-term expectations uncomfortably higher."

Last year, the Fed repeatedly forecast that supply chain pressures would ease and then was repeatedly disappointed.

"As we set policy, we will be looking to actual progress on these issues and not assuming significant near-term supply-side relief," Powell said Monday.

Fed policymakers hope to rein in inflation without stomping on growth or sending unemployment back up, and their forecasts released last week suggest they see a path for that, with the median view for inflation falling to 2.3 per cent by 2024 but unemployment still at 3.6 per cent.

Powell said on Monday he expects inflation to fall to "near 2 per cent" over the next three years, and that while a "soft landing" may not be straightforward, there is plenty of historical precedent.

"The economy is very strong and is well-positioned to handle tighter monetary policy," he said.

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