During a Friday speech, Philadelphia Federal Reserve President Patrick Harker said he thinks the central bank can stop raising interest rates.
"Absent a stark turn in what I see in the data and hear from contacts," Harker said. "I believe that we are at the point where we can hold rates where they are."
As a voting member on the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee this year, Harker's words carry extra weight as policymakers contemplate their next step forward.
The Fed has raised its benchmark borrowing rate 11 times since March 2022, totaling 5.25 percentage points. In September, the FOMC chose to hold rates steady as members differed over where inflation is headed.
Recently, multiple Fed officials have cited the tightened financial conditions brought on by a surge in Treasury yields as helping the central bank in its quest to slow the economy and bring down inflation.
Harker said the Fed has made substantial progress in bringing down prices without causing a surge in unemployment or otherwise tanking the economy. He said it can now watch the impact that its rate hikes are having and use incoming data as its guide to where policy needs to go.
"Holding rates steady will let monetary policy do its work. I am sure policy rates are restrictive, and as long they remain, we will steadily press down on inflation and bring markets into a better balance," he said. "By doing nothing, we are still doing something. And we are doing quite a lot."
