Fed Vice Chair Lael Brainard says it's 'very hard to see the case' for the Fed pausing rate hikes

cnbc.com:

Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard said Thursday that it's unlikely the central bank will be taking a break from its current rate-hiking cycle anytime soon.

Though she stressed that Fed policymakers will remain data-dependent, Brainard said the most likely path will be that the increases will continue until inflation is tamed.

«Right now, it's very hard to see the case for a pause,» she told CNBC's Sara Eisen during a live "Squawk on the Street" interview that was her first since being confirmed to the vice chair position. «We've still got a lot of work to do to get inflation down to our 2% target.»

The idea of implementing two more 50 basis point rate increases over the summer then taking a step back in September has been floated by a few officials, most notably Atlanta Fed President Raphael Bostic. Minutes from the May Federal Open Market Committee meeting indicated some support for the idea of evaluating where things stand in the fall, but there were no commitments.

In recent days, however, policymakers including San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly and Governor Christopher Waller have stressed the importance of using the central bank's policy tools aggressively to bring down inflation running around its fastest pace since the early 1980s.

«We're certainly going to do what is necessary to bring inflation back down,» Brainard said. «That's our No. 1 challenge right now. We are starting from a position of strength. The economy has a lot of momentum.»

Economic data lately, though, has been mixed.

ADP reported Thursday that private payrolls increased by just 128,000 in May, the slowest month yet for a jobs recovery that started in May 2020. Labor productivity in the first quarter contracted at the fastest pace