Former Labor Minister Robert Reich repeats his criticism of the idea of ​​raising interest rates, saying the central bank’s anti-inflationary measures hurt low-wage workers.

“By relying on the Fed to hike rates, fighting inflation falls mostly on low-wage workers who are already suffering from rising prices. There is no need to continue penalizing workers with increasing rates to increase unemployment. Stop raising rates,” Reich tweeted.

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Reich’s observation comes later federal reserve Chair Jerome Powell’S speech at The Business Club of Washington, DC again acknowledging that the disinflation process has begun but also stating that if the labor market remains strong and inflation remains high, the central bank will have to raise rates more than priced in.

US stock markets saw a back-and-forth on Tuesday as investors and traders clung to the Fed Chair’s every word. However, the main indices ended the session in the green. The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust SPY gained 1.29% while the Invesco QQQ Trust Series 1 QQQ increased by 2.07%.

Powell’s comments follow a strong jobs report released last week. The work department reported that the US economy added 517,000 jobs in January, well above economists’ estimate of 187,000 new jobs.

Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari said the Fed hasn’t made enough progress and that the target rate may need to be raised to 5.4% from the current 4.5% target range to 4.75% to beat inflation.

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