‘Skipping’ Rate Hike Not a Signal That Tightening Is Over: Fed’s Jefferson

The Federal Reserve potentially leaving interest rates unchanged at next month’s policy meeting might not indicate that the central bank’s tightening efforts are over, Fed Governor Philip Jefferson said in a speech.
An announcement to keep the benchmark fed funds rate in the target range of 5.00 and 5.25 percent would allow officials to comb through even more data before employing additional tightening measures.
“A decision to hold our policy rate constant at a coming meeting should not be interpreted to mean that we have reached the peak rate for this cycle,” Jefferson said at the Annual International Conference on Policy Challenges for the Financial Sector on May 31. “Indeed, skipping a rate hike at a coming meeting would allow the committee to see more data before making decisions about the extent of additional policy firming. With that said, let me turn to the topics covered in our two sessions this afternoon.”…}