the federal reserve shouldn’t stop raising interest rates for fear of a recession said richmond fed president thomas barkin on wednesday “if there is one thing we learned in the 1970s it is that the fed can’t let inflation fester and expectations rise if we back off for fear of a downturn inflation comes back even stronger and requires even more restraint” barkin said in a speech to the top of virginia chamber of commerce at shenandoah university in winchester va all the factors that influence higher prices – demand supply commodity and wage pressures – are easing barkin said and as a result “the economy should get into better balance in the months to come” “but i expect that process to be a lengthy one” barkin added geopolitical risks continue such as opec’s decision to cut oil production he noted last week the fed raised its benchmark interest rate by the fourth jumbo rate hike in a row – to a range of 3754 “we have been mandated by congress to maintain stable prices and we are doing what it takes to get inflation back to our 2 target” barkin said fed chairman jerome powell told reporters the central bank is likely to raise rates above the 45475 range that officials had penciled in a few months ago market participants still talk about a possible “fed pivot” in coming quarters investors who trade in fed fund futures contracts expect the central bank to slow the pace of rate hikes to a halfpercentage point move at the next meeting in middecember according to the cme’s fedwatch tool after that traders expect quarterpoint hikes at the first two meetings next year bringing the benchmark rate to a “terminal” range of 5525 traders then see the fed holding steady until november when the central bankers cuts the benchmark rate by a quarterpoint fed officials will update their expectations for the path of their benchmark rate following their dec 1314 meeting the yield on the 10year treasury note tmubmusd10y has slipped to 411 in late morning trading