March 18, 2022
By Howard Schneider
(Reuters) – Two of the Federal Reserve’s most hawkish policymakers on Friday said the central bank needs to take more aggressive steps to combat inflation, with one saying he would have supported a larger move this week were it not for the war in Ukraine and the other saying the geopolitical risks should not impede them.
Fed Governor Chris Waller said economic risks around the war in Ukraine led him to vote in favor of a quarter percentage point rate increase at this week’s meeting rather than dissent in favor of the larger half point increase he had been advocating.
“The data is screaming at us to go 50 (basis points) but the geopolitical events were telling you to go forward with caution,” Waller said on CNBC….
