MNI BRIEF: Fed's Barkin - Inflation Will Take Time To Let Up

U.S. inflation will take a while to return to the Federal Reserve’s 2% target despite the central bank’s aggressive interest-rate hikes, Richmond President Thomas Barkin said Monday.

“Inflation should come down but don’t expect its drop to be immediate or predictable,” he told an event sponsored by the regional central bank. “When I talk to business leaders, they still view their increased pricing power as temporary. They see it as an episode, not a regime change.”

Ex-Richmond Fed research director John Weinberg told MNI’s FedSpeak podcast this week the FOMC would have a lively debate over whether or not to slow the pace of hikes in December from the recent clip of 75 basis points per meeting.