The Fed

St. Louis Fed President James Bullard argued, during an exclusive interview on "Cavuto: Coast to Coast," that the central bank must "get inflation under control" and that he believes the Federal Reserve has "a good plan to do so."

The average American is likely shelling out an extra $311 a month because of inflation, according to a recent Moody's Analytics analysis. The financial squeeze stems from the rising cost of a number of everyday goods, including cars, rent, food, gasoline and health care.

Soaring consumer prices, supply chain shocks, rising energy costs and a hawkish Federal Reserve determined to bring inflation under control: These are the worrisome attributes of the U.S. economy that have some experts sounding the alarm over a possible return to 1970s-style "stagflation."

In making the new projection, Wells Fargo noted that "consumer activity has weakened" considerably as the economy confronts new COVID-19 outbreaks and restrictions, sky-high inflation and a strong U.S. dollar, in addition to the Russian war in Ukraine and aggressive Fed monetary policy.

Expectations for future conditions were also bleak: About 60% of executives believe the economy will worsen over the next six months – a stark increase from the previous quarter, when fewer than one-quarter of respondents expected conditions to deteriorate.

Craft Ventures co-founder and general partner David Sacks warned that the U.S. is headed for a recession later this year as markets have been experiencing the "worst downturn since the dot-com crash."

Eddie Ghabour, the co-founder of Key Advisors Group LLC, warned that the U.S. is in the "largest bubble of our lifetime, " and it's going to burst as the Federal Reserve is "going to suck liquidity out of the system."

Citi's Institutional Client Group Chairman Leon Kalvaria noted that “people are worried about a recession” as inflation outpaces wage growth.

Although mortgage rates have receded slightly from the record high notched last week, the average rate on the 30-year loan is still around 5.378%. By comparison, just one year ago, the 30-year rate stood at 3.00%. Since the start of the year, rates have jumped 2% – the fastest pace of growth since May 1994.

With the Federal Reserve moving rapidly to tame sky-high inflation by aggressively raising the benchmark federal funds rate, Charlie Scharf said that it is likely there will be some economic fallout.

Fed policymakers hiked the benchmark federal funds rate by a half point earlier this month, and Chairman Jerome Powell has all but promised that two, similarly sized increases are on the table at the forthcoming meetings in June and July.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell and his colleagues initially operated under the assumption that higher inflation was narrowly related to the COVID-19 pandemic, and that once virus cases started to decline, prices would stabilize too.

Harvard University economics professor Kenneth Rogoff told FOX Business that once the Fed raises interest rates, it may be difficult to ‘control’ the economy.

Inflation accelerated again in April, the Labor Department reported on Wednesday, with the consumer price index rising by 8.3%, much higher than economists expected.

Several experts have suggested in recent days that the April CPI report indicates inflation has peaked.

U.S. consumer confidence tumbled more than expected to a fresh 11-year low in early May, reflecting heightened concerns among Americans about the hottest inflation in a generation.

Odeon Capital Group chief financial strategist Dick Bove told FOX Business that "to kill inflation" the Fed will need to "lower demand below supply."

The Nasdaq Composite is on pace to cross the lows hit in the pandemic crash of March 2020.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell was confirmed by the Senate on Thursday for a second term heading the central bank and guiding U.S. monetary policy.

The Senate overwhelmingly confirmed Jerome Powell to a second term as chairman of the Federal Reserve on Thursday, a move that comes at a precarious time for the U.S. central bank as policymakers attempt to tame the hottest inflation in a generation without tipping the economy into a recession.