By Howard Schneider and Ann Saphir
JACKSON HOLE, Wyoming, Aug 28 (Reuters) - The U.S. central bank will "have work to do" if policymakers are not confident that underlying inflation is returning to its 2% target, Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh said on Friday in remarks that acknowledged financial conditions do not appear restrictive and marked the closest he has come to acknowledging interest rate hikes may be needed to ease price pressures.
"Here is my standard: We must be confident that underlying
inflation is moving to our objective, clearly and at sufficient speed. Otherwise, we have work to do. That's our job ... our mandate ... and our charge to keep," Warsh said in remarks prepared for delivery to the Fed's Jackson Hole economic symposium in Wyoming.
While much of the 16-page address focused on large issues, like the influence of artificial intelligence, that Warsh feels will be critical in the long run, it also included some key acknowledgements — including that "short-term interest rates are the predominant tool to achieve the dual mandate."
Notably, Warsh said the recommendations of five task forces he has commissioned to study longer-term issues "will come later and have no bearing on decisions we make in the current policy conjuncture. But I believe that for future policy challenges, this intellectual investment today will leave us far better prepared."
He did not directly address recent market interventions by U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, but did say that the Fed "needs clear market signals, as unfiltered as possible," to set proper monetary policy.
But it was his comments on inflation that arguably went the furthest to meet what some had seen as a gap in Warsh's remarks at his first two press conferences.
"Progress over the past two years has been modest," Warsh said of inflation readings that by the Fed's preferred Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index remained at 3.7% on an annual basis as of July.
Recent data "do not tell me that underlying trends have meaningfully improved," he said, with about half of the items in the PCE basket of goods and services increasing at more than a 3% annual rate, below the ratio seen during the COVID-19 inflation surge but above the pre-pandemic norm.
INFLATION EXPECTATIONS MUST BE 'CLOSELY MINDED'
Warsh did not suggest a timeline for rate hikes, and explicitly said his remarks should not be taken as "forward guidance" or even as the more explicit "reaction function" investors and Fed analysts have suggested he provide — neither of which he feels would be appropriate or possible to accurately provide.
But they do amount to his most detailed comments yet on where the Fed stands in its efforts to return inflation to the 2% target after more than five years above it.
He noted, in another elaboration, that he currently sees inflation expectations as anchored, though they must be "closely minded."
"It's the Fed's job to make sure that inflation expectations do not get unanchored," Warsh said.
He also said that not only does the economy appear resilient, but that given current market interest rates, and a Fed short-term policy rate unchanged since December, "credit and loan markets are showing few signs of policy restraint," comments that could lay the groundwork for arguments in favor of a rate hike if inflation persists.
The Fed's next policy meeting is scheduled for September 15-16. Ahead of Warsh's speech, investors saw a roughly one-in-three chance the central bank would raise rates next month. A hike at or by the December meeting was given more than a 90% probability, according to data from the CME Group's FedWatch Tool.
There was sentiment at the July meeting to tighten policy, with three policymakers dissenting from the decision to keep the policy rate steady in the current 3.50%-3.75% range, where it has been since December.
Key unemployment, job growth and consumer inflation data for August will be released early next month.
(Reporting by Howard Schneider; Additional reporting by Ann Saphir; Editing by Dan Burns and Paul Simao)
