WASHINGTON—Recent inflation data “has not been as encouraging as I would have liked,” Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic said on Monday, saying that the lack of month-to-month improvement in the pace of price increases warrants another 0.75 percentage point increase in the federal funds rate when policymakers meet later this month.
“The data that came in the last several months really pointed to a need for us to get closer to that neutral stance faster,” Bostic said in comments to reporters, noting that the current federal funds rate, set in a range of between 1.5 percent and 1.75 percent, is still in his view “accommodative” and encouraging economic activity….