Fed's Mester: Fed will need to go above 5% and stay there for a while

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Loretta Mester said on Thursday that she saw a 'compelling case' for a 50 basis points (bps) rate hike at the last FOMC meeting, as reported by Reuters.

Key takeaways

"Fed has more work to do to control inflation."

"Fed will need to go above 5% and stay there for a while."

"Transition back to price stability will bring some pain."

"How far Fed goes above 5% depends on data."

"Upside risks to inflation remain in place."

"Fed actions will slow growth, push up unemployment."

"January CPI data showed still more to do on cooling inflation."

"Inflation levels remain too high."

"Bigger risk is to undershoot in effort to control inflation."

"How far Fed goes with future hikes depends on inflation."

"Expecting to make good progress on lowering inflation."

Market reaction

The US Dollar holds its ground against its major rivals following these comments and the US Dollar Index was last seen rising 0.12% on the day at 103.93.