Richmond Fed Pres: We’re Not ‘Compellingly Headed’ to Cracking Inflation, ‘Trying to Find Some Comfort’ We Can Get Median to Target

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President and CEO Tom Barkin said that he hasn’t seen evidence that inflation has cracked, and that while inflation is moving in a good direction, “it’s hard to make the case that we’re compellingly headed” to cracking inflation and he’s searching for “some comfort that we can get inflation that is being felt by people in the economy on average in the median down to where we’d like it to be.”

Barkin said, “I put particular focus on the core, which is still running a little over 5% year-over-year. And we had some good news on energy, but there’s still more to do to getting core inflation back down to where we’d like it to be.”

He added that “Inflation’s going to come down in part because demand is cooling, and I definitely see demand cooling. And then you’ve got credit conditions.” And “A good thing to look at is the median. And we’ve had good months and bad months on the headline, but the median’s been over target literally every month since it got started. So I am trying to find some comfort that we can get inflation that is being felt by people in the economy on average in the median down to where we’d like it to be.”

Barkin further stated, “I certainly think we’re past peak on inflation. But we still have a ways to go.”

Later, he said, “I’d say demand is cooling, and I’m seeing that cool and I’m waiting for inflation to crack.”

Co-host Sara Eisen then asked, “You’re not seeing evidence of that yet?”

Barkin answered, “Not yet. It’s moving down, it’s moving in the right direction, as you said earlier. But in the absence of a month or two months or three months with inflation at our target, it’s hard to make the case that we’re compellingly headed there.”

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