Fed officials back further rate rises to curb inflation

Several Federal Reserve bank presidents now favour raising interest rates again to tackle inflation that has stayed above target. Boston Fed President Susan Collins supports a steady pace of modest increases and says inflation has run above the two percent goal for more than five years. San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly says her bias is toward a rate rise and that she will weigh the decision with colleagues at the 8-9 December meeting. Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan stresses the need for tighter policy. The current target range is 3.75 to 4 percent, and a quarter-point increase is widely expected. Core consumer prices rose about 0.3 percent month over month in each of the past three months, according to The Economic Times.