Boston's Collins: "At, Or Near" A Pause

Boston Fed Pres Collins' speech today seems to put her at the more dovish end of perspectives on whether another FOMC rate hike is warranted. She plays up recent inflation development as "promising" and says it's possible that while decisions should be made meeting-by-meeting, "we may be at, or near" the point of a pause.

• Main point: "While inflation is still too high, there are some promising signs of moderation. I believe we may be at, or near, the point where monetary policy can pause raising interest rates. This will provide an opportunity to more fully assess the impact of the actions taken to date and the general tightening of credit conditions on economic activity. However, I also believe it is important to make each policy decision based on a wholistic assessment of information available at the time."
• We'd already considered Collins - who doesn't have a vote either this year or next - a relative dove in our Hawk-Dove Spectrum, so her stance is not surprising, even though we hadn't heard from her on monetary policy since March.
• Accordingly, market reaction was limited.