Fed to Inflict More Pain on Economy as It Readies Big Rate Hike

Fed to Inflict More Pain on Economy as It Readies Big Rate Hike(Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve will probably have to inflict much more pain on the economy to get inflation under control. Fed officials though continue to maintain that they can avoid a recession and execute a soft landing of the economy. They argue that the economy has underlying strengths and have voiced hopes that inflation could ease as quickly as it escalated. GDP contracted at a 1.6% annualized pace in the first quarter and may have shrunk further in the second, at least according to the Atlanta Fed’s economy tracker. Fed policy makers have already pushed back on that narrative, pointing to the strength of the job market.