Richmond Federal Reserve President Tom Barkin suggested Tuesday that progress on inflation may be slower than everyone would like to see.
“People hate inflation because it seems unfair,” Barkin said, during a Bloomberg television interview.
Asked about the latest consumer inflation data released an hour before his interview, Barkin said the overall data was “about as expected.”
“Inflation is normalizing, but it is coming down slowly,” Barkin said.
Read: CPI shows inflation still sticky and slowing gradually
“I think there is going to be a lot more inertia, a lot more persistence that maybe we don’t want,” Barkin added.
Barkin said some factors related to the COVID pandemic — like excess money in people’s pockets and supply chain woes — are keeping upward pressure on prices.
Businesses also “understand” that they have the option to raise prices in this environment, he added.
“People are pushing prices —- trying to test where levels of inelasticity are,” Barkin said.
U.S. stocks
DJIA,
SPX,
were up slightly in volatile trading after the CPI data was released. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note
TMUBMUSD10Y,
rose to 3.74%.
Credit: marketwatch.com