Atlanta Fed president, Raphael Bostic, speaks to the WSJ
- Thinks that there is room to run with a very slow pace of rate hikes
- So long as the economy is "running fine"
- Aim is to get Fed benchmark rate to so-called neutral level
- Slow approach to get to neutral is a good path for the Fed
- Expects economic growth in the region of 2.2% to 2.5% this year
- Doesn't expect inflation to exceed the 2% target
The full interview can be found here. Of note, Bostic previously had a forecast of the Fed raising rates twice this year so this is a bit of a scale back. Nonetheless, that's still one more than the market is currently pricing in as so far the Fed has been very laid back about its 'wait-and-see' approach.
That suggests that any rate hike isn't imminent and we'll have more indications of that depending on how the economy performs in the first half of this year.
