Fed's Kashkari: Middle East inflation risks could warrant series of rate hikes
Minneapolis Federal Reserve (Fed) President Neel Kashkari said the central bank could begin a series of rate increases if inflation sparked by the Middle East conflict keeps rising, in comments to Nikkei during a visit to Tokyo to attend the Bank of Japan's annual conference.
He said that “the next rate change could be either a cut or a hike,” adding that it would depend on inflation’s behavior. Kashkari added that a persistent closure of the Strait of Hormuz can affect long-term inflation expectations in households and businesses, which “could become unanchored.”
Consequently, the central bank would likely tighten policy. “Federal funds rate increases, potentially a series of them, could be warranted,” Kashkari said.
US Dollar Price Today
The table below shows the percentage change of US Dollar (USD) against listed major currencies today. US Dollar was the strongest against the New Zealand Dollar.
| USD | EUR | GBP | JPY | CAD | AUD | NZD | CHF | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USD | 0.12% | 0.41% | 0.25% | 0.09% | 0.05% | 0.62% | 0.37% | |
| EUR | -0.12% | 0.33% | 0.17% | 0.02% | -0.03% | 0.54% | 0.26% | |
| GBP | -0.41% | -0.33% | -0.15% | -0.33% | -0.35% | 0.20% | -0.05% | |
| JPY | -0.25% | -0.17% | 0.15% | -0.17% | -0.18% | 0.35% | 0.13% | |
| CAD | -0.09% | -0.02% | 0.33% | 0.17% | 0.00% | 0.54% | 0.30% | |
| AUD | -0.05% | 0.03% | 0.35% | 0.18% | -0.00% | 0.54% | 0.30% | |
| NZD | -0.62% | -0.54% | -0.20% | -0.35% | -0.54% | -0.54% | -0.24% | |
| CHF | -0.37% | -0.26% | 0.05% | -0.13% | -0.30% | -0.30% | 0.24% |
The heat map shows percentage changes of major currencies against each other. The base currency is picked from the left column, while the quote currency is picked from the top row. For example, if you pick the US Dollar from the left column and move along the horizontal line to the Japanese Yen, the percentage change displayed in the box will represent USD (base)/JPY (quote).
Author
Christian Borjon Valencia
FXStreet
Markets analyst, news editor, and trading instructor with over 14 years of experience across FX, commodities, US equity indices, and global macro markets.
