There is a "pretty strong" case for the Federal Open Market Committee to raise the fed funds rate target next month, Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Jeffrey Lacker said in an interview published Monday.
"I never completely make up my mind before a meeting, but at this point it looks to me as if the case for raising rates looks to be pretty strong in June," he told the Washington Post. "Inflation is moving decidedly toward 2 percent. Labor markets have tightened very significantly. The concerns, the downside risks that we saw at the very beginning of this year, have dissipated. And we're very far away from the benchmarks that we have to guide where rates ought to be. To me that adds up to a pretty strong case for a June move. But as I said, I don't make up my mind until the meeting comes."
Markets, he said, may get a false impression since there has been much talk of rate hikes, but only once (in December) has the Fed actually tightened recently.
The Fed should "have moved several times by now," he said, and the FOMC needs to think "about catching up, making up ground."
