Focus on Labor Market Seen as Leading Fed to Tighten Too Much

The Fed should focus more on signs of declining inflation and less on labor markets, Spartan’s Peter Cardillo tells WSJ, expressing concerns that the central bank could end up over-tightening. “There’s enough evidence out there that, while inflation remains high, it has certainly peaked and it is in its way down,” he says. “As far as salaries are concerned, I think we have peaked.” Cardillo expects price pressures to remain in the energy sector, but a global economic slowdown should keep a lid on oil prices, he says. Cardillo expects the Fed to raise by 50 basis point in February, following with a 25 bp increase and then a pause.