The Federal Reserve has more work to do to bring inflation under control, said Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin on Wednesday. Barkin said the March consumer price data was “pretty much as expected.” He said he puts more emphasis on the core rate, which excludes food and energy prices. It is running at a 5.6% annual rate. “We had some good news on energy, but there is still more to do to get core inflation back down to where we’d like it to be,” Barkin said. He said that inflation is going to come down because demand is cooling. But it is hard to make the case that inflation is headed to the 2% target, he added. Barkin rebuffed questions on what the Fed will decide to do at its next interest-rate policy meeting in May. He noted that there will be important economic data all the way until just before the May 2-3 meeting.
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