MNI BRIEF: Too Soon For Fed To Consider Rate Pause- Kashkari

Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari said Tuesday it's far too soon to consider pausing interest-rate hikes given a strong job market and service price inflation that might still be worsening.

“We’re not even sure we’ve got rates high enough to push services prices down,” he said when asked if it's time to pause and assess the impact of past rate hikes. “We still have a ways to go” he said about further hikes, and it's also unclear whether overall core inflation has peaked.

The U.S. economy likely isn't in a recession absent the significant weakness in the job market that usually accompanies such a downturn, Kashkari said. The Fed is in "an aggressive campaign" to curb inflation, he said. Atlanta Fed economist Brent Meyer told MNI's FedSpeak podcast last week high inflation has become entrenched and it will take months if not another year for tighter monetary policy and supply-side relief to change those dynamics.