Fed swaps, in the market, point to a 0.50% interest rate hike by the Fed at its next meeting on March 21-22.
The Fed stands ready to accelerate the pace of rate hikes if needed based on economic data.
This was stated by Fed Chairman Jerome Powell speaking in the US Senate, underlining that decisions will be made meeting by meeting.
The resilience of the economy in the face of increases in the cost of money indicate that the level that interest rates will reach will be higher than anticipated.
The Fed - he underlined - is committed to bringing inflation back to the 2% target: "in the last year we have taken strong actions, we have come a long way and the full effect of our actions has yet to show itself. Despite this, work remains to do", says Powell reiterating that price stability is essential and to restore it "
it will probably require the maintenance of a restrictive monetary policy for some time.
We will carry on until the job is done". The road to bringing down inflation is still long and will be bumpy.
