A run of robust financial information and indicators that inflation stays stubbornly excessive could lead on the Federal Reserve to boost its benchmark fee larger within the coming months than it has beforehand forecast, a number of Fed officers say.

On Thursday, Christopher Waller, a member of the Fed’s influential Board of Governors, stated that if the financial system continued to indicate power and inflation remained elevated, the central financial institution must raise its key fee above 5.4%. That will be larger than Fed officers had signaled in December, after they projected it might peak at roughly 5.1% this yr.

“Current information recommend that client spending isn’t slowing that a lot, that the labor market continues to run unsustainably scorching and that inflation just isn’t coming down as quick as I had thought,” Waller stated in ready remarks for a enterprise convention in Los Angeles.

His suggestion was in distinction to a speech he gave in January, titled “A Case for Cautious Optimism,” that captured a prevailing sentiment on the time that inflation had peaked and was steadily declining.

Even when information to be launched later this month had been to indicate hiring and inflation cooling once more, Waller stated, he would nonetheless favor elevating the Fed’s fee to a variety between 5% to five.5%, up from about 4.6% now. And if the financial figures had been to “proceed to return in too scorching,” he stated, the Fed’s key fee “should be raised this yr much more to make sure that we don’t lose the momentum that was in place” earlier than the strong January financial stories.

Over the previous yr, the Fed has raised short-term charges on the quickest tempo in 4 a long time to attempt to curb the worst inflation because the early Nineteen Eighties. These hikes have led to larger charges throughout the financial system: Mortgage charges have practically double d, to six.7%, and auto loans, bank card borrowing and enterprise loans have turn into costlier.

The Fed’s objective is to chill the financial system by elevating the price of borrowing and slowing enterprise and client spending. Extra modest progress would doubtless assist gradual inflation to the Fed’s 2% goal. Fed officers subsequent meet March 21-22, when they’re anticipated to boost their key fee by a quarter-point to about 4.9%.

In latest weeks, a number of stories recommended that the financial system was stronger and inflation extra persistent than earlier information had indicated. The financial system gained an unlimited whole of greater than half 1,000,000 jobs in January, and the unemployment fee reached a 53-year low of three.4%.

Inflation information was additionally revised larger and got here in hotter than anticipated in January. Waller famous that for the ultimate three months of final yr, core inflation — which excludes the risky meals and vitality classes — was revised up from an annual fee of three.1% to 4.3%. It then rose to 4.6% in January.

“Though inflation has been coming down because the center of final yr,” Waller stated, “the latest information point out that we haven’t made as a lot progress as we thought.”

Different Fed officers have additionally expressed unease in regards to the stories exhibiting larger inflation and warmer progress. On Wednesday, Neel Kashkari, president of the Federal Reserve Financial institution of Minneapolis, stated, “I lean in the direction of persevering with to boost additional.”

“These are regarding information factors, suggesting that we’re not making progress as shortly as we wish,” Kashkari stated.

And on Thursday, Raphael Bostic, president of the Atlanta Fed, stated he helps pushing charges to about 5.1% within the coming months, the identical as projected in December. He added that the Fed’s fee hikes could not begin to chew till this summer season, so the Fed must be cautious about tightening credit score too far and inflicting a recession.

But Bostic additionally added, “There’s a case to be made that we have to go larger.”

“Jobs have are available in stronger than we anticipated,” Bostic stated. “Inflation is remaining cussed at elevated ranges. Client spending is powerful. Labor markets stay fairly tight.”

And final Friday, Loretta Mester, president of the Cleveland Fed, advised Bloomberg Information that the Fed “must perform a little extra” to boost charges and to maintain them elevated for an prolonged interval.