Inflation is alive, the Fed could hike rates again, and businesses are facing greater uncertainties today than in the past 50 years, former Home Depot CEO says
(Photo by Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)
- Consumer-price pressures remain high in the US, suggesting the Fed could hike interest rates again, according to Robert Nardelli.
- "Inflation is still exceeding wage increases. I think we still got a way to go," the former Home Depot CEO said.
- That view is at odds with market expectations that the Fed will likely pause its interest-rate hikes this month.
There's still work to do for the Federal Reserve to tame inflation - and US businesses are currently facing more uncertainty than in the past 50 years, former Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli said.
Nardelli agreed with Fox Business' Neil Cavuto in an interview on Tuesday that consumer-price pressures remain high in the US economy, thanks to high fuel prices.
While inflation has cooled significantly from mid-2022 highs, it still remains well above the Fed's 2% target. April's reading showed consumer prices rose at an annual rate of 4.9%.
That could mean the Fed will raise interest rates further, Nardelli said, especially with May's strong payroll report showing the labor market remains robust, with US employers adding 339,000 jobs. "I think it's possible. We were all excited about the jobs report but over 60,000 of those were government jobs," he said.
"We saw unemployment go up, just a tick. We saw hours work go down. That's equivalent to about 700,000 jobs and lower paychecks for the people out there working," the former Chrysler chief executive added.
The nation's central bank has already hiked interest rates by 500 basis points since early 2022 in a bid to tame soaring price pressures. A majority of investors however are expecting the Fed to pause its policy tightening as the fallout from the recent bank collapses continues to disrupt the economy.
"Inflation is still exceeding wage increases. I think we still got a way to go," Nardelli said.
He also highlighted the risk of a "hard landing" in the US economy, saying "the multitude of uncertainties that businesses face today is greater than I've seen in my 52 years of business."