Chicago Federal Reserve President Charles Evans told CNBC on Friday he’s still nervous about continued low inflation, and would prefer to “wait a little longer” before raising interest rates for the first time in 2018.
The financial markets, however, view a March rate increase as a virtual lock. Central bankers have projected three rate increases for 2018 after three hikes last year. Some economists even see four rate hikes this year as a possibility.
Evans, who is not a policy voting member this year, appeared on “Squawk Box” shortly after the government reported a much stronger-than-expected 313,000 nonfarm jobs were added last month. The unemployment rate dipped slightly to 4 percent. Average hourly earnings growth of 0.1 percent was lower-than-expected for February, representing a 2.6 percent advance on an annualized basis.
That strong wage number in January’s jobs data had sparked fears of inflation and the Fed rising rates more aggressively than projected.
