CNN’s Quest: ‘Core Inflation Is Well and Truly Embedded’

On Wednesday’s broadcast of CNN International’s “Isa Soares Tonight,” CNN host, International Business Correspondent, and CNN Business Editor-at-Large Richard Quest stated that we already have “well and truly embedded” core inflation that is “not coming down fast enough.” And that “the low-hanging fruit has been picked, in a sense,” in getting the numbers to where they are now.

Quest said, “[C]ore inflation is well and truly embedded. It is entrenched. It’s exactly what they don’t want. The number’s not coming down fast enough. And yes, the low-hanging fruit has been picked, in a sense, getting down to 4, 5%. But are they going to push on forward for the magic number of 2%, the so-called pivot? This decision by the Fed today cannot be seen as a decision of pivoting against 2%, in other words, we’ll happily stay at 4. It is a pure play on the banking system until they can be sure the banking system at least has gotten rid of this bucolic indigestion, if you will. … So, the Fed, in managing this risk has played a clever blinder. It has raised rates, which says, we’re not over with inflation. But it said, we’re going to take it easy because of the banking system.”

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