Cleveland Fed president Beth Hammack said in a Friday LinkedIn post that it is time for the central bank to act to cool inflation, pointing to data and anecdotes from her district. Her comments landed the same day as a surprisingly strong jobs report that pushed the odds of a September rate hike to slightly above 60%.
In a Friday LinkedIn post reported by Bloomberg and Reuters, Cleveland Fed president Beth Hammack wrote that "its time to act" to cool inflation. Hammack said the data and anecdotes she is hearing from her district indicate current policy is not sufficiently weighing on the economy.
A manufacturer's complaint shapes her view
In the post, Hammack described a conversation with a manufacturer in Northeast Ohio who told her the Fed should raise interest rates, pointing to double-digit inflation in many of his input prices. Hammack was one of three Fed policymakers who dissented from the central bank's decision to hold rates steady in July.
That dissent places her among the more hawkish voices on the committee heading into this month's meeting. The Federal Open Market Committee is due to meet 15 to 16 September to vote on rates, with officials entering a communications blackout at midnight before the decision.
Jobs data shifts the odds
The timing of Hammack's remarks matters as much as their content. They landed the same day as a jobs report that came in stronger than expected, shifting market pricing toward a more hawkish outcome. Investors now put the odds of a rate increase at this month's meeting at slightly above 60%, a marked change from where expectations sat before the data.
Taken together, Hammack's remarks reflect her own stated preference for tighter policy rather than a Fed decision or a shift in official guidance. They arrive, however, at a moment when the broader data flow already points in the same direction she is arguing for.
Source: Investinglive
Trading involves risk.
Risk Disclaimer
