Barkin Says Fed Response to War Depends on Length of Shock (1)

Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Tom Barkin said the central bank’s response to the US-Israel war with Iran will depend on how long the impact on the US economy lasts.

“Gas prices, obviously, if they’re up, that is inflationary,” Barkin said Thursday on Bloomberg TV. “Textbook monetary policy would be you look through a short-term shock, but you don’t look through a long-term shock, and I think that’s a lot of the assessment people are going to have to make.”

Fed officials next meet March 17-18 and have signaled they are likely to hold rates steady for a ...