Fed's Kashkari says a June pause on rates wouldn't indicate an end to hiking cycle

cnbc.com:

Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari on Monday said he's open to holding off on another interest rate hike next month, but cautioned against reading too much into a pause.

«Right now it's a close call either way, versus raising another time in June or skipping,» the central bank official said on CNBC's "Squawk Box." «Some of my colleagues have talked about skipping. Important to me is not signaling that we're done. If we did, if we were to skip in June, that does not mean we're done with our tightening cycle. It means to me we're getting more information.»

Markets currently are putting about an 83% probability that the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee holds off on what would be an 11th consecutive increase when it convenes June 13-14, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tracker of futures prices.

Beyond that, traders see the Fed likely cutting about half a percentage point off rates before the end of the year, a nod toward inflation moving lower and the economy slowing.

Central bank officials have been unified in saying they don't expect cuts this year. Kashkari said that if inflation doesn't come down, he would be in favor of increasing rates again.

«Do we then start raising again in July? Potentially, and so that's the most important thing to me is that we're not taking it off the table,» he said.

«Markets seem very optimistic that rates are going to fall now. I think that they believe that inflation is going to fall, and then we're going to be able to respond to that. I hope they're right,» he added. «But nobody should be confused about our commitment to getting inflation back down to 2%.»

Fed Chair Jerome Powell on Friday suggested that the recent stresses in the banking system could slow