(Reuters) – Chicago Federal Reserve Bank President Charles Evans on Thursday said that next week’s inflation report could be “informative” on how much the Fed should raise interest rates next week, with his attention on how broad inflation pressures remain.
“If I saw inflation maybe cooling a little bit that’s not going to change the fact that I still think we are going to need to top out at something like 3.5% to 4%, it’s just that maybe we don’t have to do it that soon,” Evans told reporters after public remarks at the College of Dupage, adding he is open to either a half-point rate hike or another 75-basis-point interest-rate increase.
On the other hand, he said, “I guess I don’t have great heartburn of accelerating that towards the end of this year or January.”
(Reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Chris Reese)