Harker The Latest To Advocate 25bp In March (Not 50)

Philadelphia Fed Pres Harker comments on the FOMC going for a 25bp hike in March, in an interview with WHYY, a Philadelphia public radio station: "I am very supportive of starting the process of raising the fed funds rate which is our primary tool of monetary policy, start to raise that, and I would be supportive of as early as March a 25 basis point in that rate...we need to walk a fine line at the Fed."

• Recall his comments at the start of Feb, before the jobs and inflation data -looks like they weren't enough to convince him to change his mind on 25 vs 50: He said Feb 1 that he would be supportive of a 25bp hike at the March FOMC. Asking rhetorically, could the Fed do 50? Yes, but at the time he was "less convinced of that right now".
• He said then that the Fed would have to see a pretty significant spike in inflation, otherwise, he saw 25bp.
• So, with the January inflation report having come and gone, he still wasn't convinced of a 50bp hike.