Former Fed official expects rate hike

Former Fed official James Bullard says more rate hikes are possible Former St. Louis Fed President James Bullard said Thursday that the possibility of inflation numbers remaining stubbornly high for a while could mean more rate hikes. In an interview with CNBC, Bullard raised the possibility of further policy tightening given that core inflation is stuck around 4%. “That increases the risk that the Fed will have to make good on its promise of raising rates over the next few meetings, and even from there, there’s a risk that it will have to go a little bit higher,” Bullard told CNBC. Inflation numbers “need to get down into the 3% range and eventually into the 2% range, and if that doesn’t happen and it gets stuck too high, the Fed may have to do more,” he said.