The latest consumer price data show that inflation is still too high to warrant an easing of monetary policy and may even require further interest rate increases, according to a senior Federal Reserve official.
Michelle Bowman, who sits on the Fed’s Board of Governors and is a voting member of the central bank’s rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), made the remarks at a May 12 symposium on financial system construction in Germany.
The remarks deliver a counterpoint to growing market expectations for a so-called Fed pivot.
The latest consumer price index (CPI) figures showed insufficient progress in the Fed’s fight to lower price pressures, Bowman said. They showed that inflation in April inched down in annual terms to 4.9 percent from 5.0 but shot up fourfold in monthly terms to 0.4 percent from 0.1 percent.