Fed’s Lacker: Preemptive hike avoids the risk of tightening too fast

Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker - non-voter, hawk - said on Tuesday that preemptive hike avoids the risk of tightening too fast.

“While inflation pressures may seem a distant and theoretical concern right now, prudent preemptive action can help us avoid the hard-to-predict emergence of a situation that requires more drastic action after the fact,” said Lacker in a speech in West Virginia.

He also said the Fed was close to its targets of full employment and inflation target, therefore the current target range for the federal funds rates “is extremely low” and should be 1.5% or higher.