Fed’s Barkin: ‘Slow progress’ on inflation, sees more hikes

WASHINGTON (AP) — A top Federal Reserve official downplayed recent signs that the economy is strengthening, but also said he is prepared to keep raising interest rates in smaller increments as often as needed to quell inflation.

Richmond Federal Reserve President Thomas Barkin said Friday that recent data showing an unusually robust job gain and a spike in retail sales last month reflected in part the impact of warm weather and the government’s seasonal adjustment process, rather than an acceleration of growth that could push inflation higher.

“I’m not taking as much signal from the data that we’ve gotten recently,” Barkin said in a roundtable with reporters. Though he added that could change “if you start to see it for multiple months.”

Barkin’s comments follow tougher talk from other Fed officials earlier this week, such as Cleveland Fed president Loretta Mester, which has pushed stock and bond prices lower as Wall Street investors increasingly expect more rate hikes by the Fed than the central bank has previously signaled.

In his remarks, Barkin also cautioned that measures of underlying inflation remain high and may require additional rate increases. He said he was comfortable with raising rates a quarter-point at a time, rather than moving back to the larger increases of a half-point or more that the Fed implemented last year.

“I like the (quarter-point) path because I believe it gives us the flexibility to respond to the economy as it comes in,” he said. “And that means that I’m comfortable raising rates potentially more often to a higher level.”