Jerome H. Powell, the Federal Reserve chair, made clear on Tuesday that the central financial institution is ready to react to latest indicators of financial energy by elevating rates of interest increased than beforehand anticipated and, if incoming knowledge stay sizzling, probably returning to a faster tempo of fee will increase.

Mr. Powell, in remarks ready for supply to the Senate Banking Committee, additionally famous that the Fed’s battle in opposition to inflation was “very possible” to come back at some value to the labor market.

His feedback are the clearest acknowledgment but that latest stories exhibiting inflation stays cussed and the job market stays resilient are more likely to shake up the coverage trajectory for America’s central financial institution.

The Fed final yr raised rates of interest on the quickest tempo for the reason that Nineteen Eighties, pushing borrowing prices from close to zero to above 4.5 p.c. That originally gave the impression to be slowing shopper and enterprise demand and serving to inflation to reasonable. However plenty of latest financial stories have steered that inflation didn’t weaken as a lot as anticipated final yr and remained quicker than anticipated in January, whereas different knowledge confirmed hiring stays robust and shopper spending picked up at first of the yr.

Whereas a few of that momentum might owe to delicate January climate — circumstances allowed for purchasing journeys and development — Mr. Powell mentioned the surprising energy will in all probability require a stronger coverage response from the Fed.

“The method of getting inflation again all the way down to 2 p.c has a protracted method to go and is more likely to be bumpy,” Mr. Powell mentioned in his remarks. “The most recent financial knowledge have are available stronger than anticipated, which means that the last word stage of rates of interest is more likely to be increased than beforehand anticipated.”

He even opened the door to a quicker tempo of fee will increase if incoming knowledge — which embody a jobs report on Friday and a contemporary inflation report due subsequent week — stay sizzling. The Fed repeatedly raised charges by three-quarters of some extent in 2022, however slowed to half some extent in December and a quarter level in early February.

“If the totality of the info had been to point that quicker tightening is warranted, we might be ready to extend the tempo of fee hikes,” Mr. Powell mentioned.

Earlier than Mr. Powell’s remarks, markets had been closely ready for a quarter-point transfer on the Fed’s upcoming March 21-22 assembly.

Whereas the Fed usually avoids making an excessive amount of of any single month’s knowledge, Mr. Powell signaled that latest stories have induced concern each as a result of indicators of continued momentum had been broad-based, and since they got here alongside revisions that made a slowdown late in 2022 look much less pronounced.

“The breadth of the reversal together with revisions to the earlier quarter means that inflationary pressures are operating increased than anticipated on the time of our earlier” assembly, Mr. Powell mentioned.

He reiterated that there are some hopeful developments: Items inflation has slowed, and hire inflation, whereas excessive, seems poised to chill down this yr.

Nonetheless, “there may be little signal of disinflation up to now within the class of core providers excluding housing,” Mr. Powell mentioned, citing a measure of inflation that the Fed has been turning to increasingly more as a sign of how robust underlying value pressures stay within the economic system.

“To revive value stability, we might want to see decrease inflation on this sector, and there’ll very possible be some softening in labor market circumstances,” he added.

When the Fed raises rates of interest, it slows shopper spending on huge credit-based purchases like homes and automobiles and may dissuade companies from increasing on borrowed cash. As demand for merchandise and demand for staff cools, wage development eases and unemployment might even rise, additional slowing consumption and inflicting a broader moderation within the economic system.

However to this point, the job market has been very resilient to the Fed’s strikes, with the lowest unemployment fee since 1969, fast hiring and sturdy pay positive aspects.

Mr. Powell mentioned that wage development — whereas it has moderated considerably — stays too robust to be in line with a return to 2 p.c inflation. When corporations are paying extra, they’re more likely to cost extra to cowl their labor payments. And shoppers who’re incomes extra might have extra capability to maintain their spending, protecting demand robust sufficient to permit value will increase to persist.

“Robust wage development is sweet for staff, however provided that it isn’t eroded by inflation,” Mr. Powell mentioned.