Improvements to inflation have taken longer than expected to materialize but seem to have arrived, said Boston Federal Reserve President Susan Collins on Friday.
“With improvements on the supply side — both in terms of supply chains and, to some degree, labor supply — we are now seeing initial signs of deceleration in goods-price and wage inflation,” Collins said in remarks at a conference in New York sponsored by the University of Chicago Booth School of Business.
“These improvements took longer than expected to materialize but do appear to
be providing some relief to inflation,” Collins said.
In her remarks, Collins said that inflation “remains too high.” In order to reach a sufficiently restrictive level, she said, further rate increases are needed, with the rate then remaining at that level for “some, perhaps extended, time.”
Collins reiterated that she thinks the Fed can tame inflation without causing a significant downturn.
Stocks
SPX,
DJIA,
were lower on Friday after a report showed higher-than-expected PCE inflation in January. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note
TMUBMUSD10Y,
rose to 3.96%.
