Former Federal Reserve Bank of New York President William Dudley said on Tuesday he believes the U.S. central bank will go for a supersize rate rise on Wednesday as it tries to bring monetary policy up to speed quickly to deal with surging inflation.
The Fed will likely put in place a three-quarters of a percentage point rate rise at the close of the Federal Open Market Committee meeting, said William Dudley, speaking at a Wall Street Journal CFO Network Summit. Mr. Dudley, who was once the chief economist of Goldman Sachs, helmed the New York Fed from 2009 until he retired in 2018.
Mr. Dudley remains an influential voice on central bank issues, and in recent comments has criticized the Fed for being too slow to respond to the inflation surge that has forced central bankers to rapidly shift gears on the rate outlook. This week, in the wake of hot consumer-level inflation data released on Friday, markets have moved from expecting a half-percentage point increase from the Federal Open Market Committee meeting to the larger size move.
“My sense is that the Fed has decided to do 75 basis points rather than 50 basis points because of the data we’ve gotten over the last week or so showing higher inflation and maybe some more disturbing news on inflation expectations,” Mr. Dudley said.
Asked if an even more aggressive 1 percentage point increase would be a good idea, Mr. Dudley said “you can certainly make that argument because if you decide that the speed of getting there is just as important as the level that you’re going to get to, then why not get there faster?” The current federal funds target rate range is now set at between 0.75% and 1%.
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