A surprisingly high inflation reading prompted a duo of leading Wall Street business economists to call for a monstrous rate hike at next week’s Federal Reserve policy meeting. Barclays economist Jonathan Millar said the Fed now had good reason to surprise markets by rising more aggressively than expected in June due to Friday’s consumer price index report. “The May CPI was even firmer than expected, due to widespread price pressures,” Millar said in a note. “With little indication that these have peaked, we now expect the FOMC to rise 75 basis points at next week’s meeting.” Jefferies economist Aneta Markowska also expects the Fed to rise 0.75%. “We believe today’s inflation data – both the CPI and the UMich inflation expectations – are a game-changer and will force the Fed to shift into higher gear and tighten policy. initial charge,” Markowska said in a note. Inflation accelerated further in May, with prices rising 8.6% from a year ago, the fastest rise since December 1981. Economists polled by Dow Jones expected a gain of 8.3%. The Fed decreed two rate hikes totaling 75 basis points, including a 50 basis point hike in May . The consensus is that they will rise another half percent next week on Wednesday. “The tricky part behind the move to 75 basis points, of course, is that the Fed then has to reduce expectations for 75 basis point hikes in subsequent meetings,” Barclays’ Millar said. “But that messaging hurdle was a hurdle he also faced when he basically committed to 50 basis points for at least a few meetings, and that didn’t stop him from making that commitment.” Fed members recently floated the idea of implementing two more 50 basis point rate hikes over the summer and then rolling back in September, but traders are now anticipating more hikes in the future. sequel to the inflation report.
Some economists predict the Fed will raise rates to as much as 0.75% next week
