Fed Leaders Pledge Tough Fight to Keep Inflation Credibility

Federal Reserve leaders pledged the central bank would continue an aggressive fight to cool an inflation rate that’s at a four-decade high, even if higher rates cause the risk of recession.

Fed Bank St. Louis President James Bullard said he favors a strategy of “front-loading” big interest-rate hikes, and he wants to end the year at 3.75% to 4%, while his Richmond counterpart, Thomas Barkin, said the central bank was committed to lowering inflation and a recession could happen. San Francisco’s Mary Daly maintained that the central bank can counter inflation without triggering mass unemployment and an economic downturn.

“We still have some ways to go here to get to restrictive monetary policy,” Bullard said in a CNBC interview. “I’ve argued now with the hotter inflation numbers in the spring, we should get to 3.75% to 4% this year. Exactly whether you want to do that at a particular meeting or some other meeting is a great question. I’ve liked front-loading. I think it enhances our inflation-fighting credentials.”