Fed's Bullard: Most pressing issue for Fed is inflation, labour market remains “super tight”

Joel Frank Independent Analyst

The most pressing issue for the Fed to tackle is inflation, St Louis Fed President and vocal hawkish FOMC member James Bullard said on Tuesday. Bullard said that the continued strong growth trend for the US economy is the base case outlook for the next 18 months at least, and that the US labour market remains "super tight". Meanwhile, household consumption is expected to hold up well though this year, he added.

A lot of people want to "put the pandemic behind them", Bullard added, who added that what happens to the European and Chinese economies are the biggest risk to the US outlook. From a macroeconomic perspective, the effects of the Ukraine war have so far been contained, Bullard continued, adding that he does not see Europe going into recession.

Bullard has in the past called for the Fed to lift interest rates to 3.5% by the end of the year (above what the 2.5% rate most of the rest of the FOMC seem to favour by the year's end) and has previously hinted that 75 bps rate hikes should be considered.

Author

Joel Frank

Independent Analyst

Joel Frank is an economics graduate from the University of Birmingham and has worked as a full-time financial market analyst since 2018, specialising in the coverage of how developments in the global economy impact financial asset

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