A “blowout jobs report” pushed the unemployment rate to a 53-year low of 3.4% in January, and despite persistent inflation, consumers keep fueling the economy with robust spending. Normally, that would be great news, but St. Louis Federal Reserve President James Bullard said Wednesday it means the fight against inflation is far from over.
Fed officials have raised interest rates eight times over the past year in hopes of cooling the economy and taming red-hot inflation, and they’ve managed to slow year-over-year consumer price increases from a 40-year high of 9.1% in June to 6.4% last month. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell even mentioned the word “disinflation” 13 times in his early February press conference, striking a far more optimistic tone than he did in 2022.
