Fed's Harker: We should be above 3% by end of year

In an interview with Yahoo Finance on Wednesday, Philadelphia Fed President Patrick Harker said they need to get to the neutral rate of 2.5% quickly and lift it above 3% by the end of the year, as reported by Reuters.

Additional takeaways

"75 bps rate hike helps us get to neutral stance."

"Not ready to make a decision on whether July should be 75 bps or 50 bps."

"If demand softens quicker than I expect, 50 bps hike for July may be good."

"We need to move to a restrictive stance; how we get there depends on data."

"Starting to see signs of demand softening, which is what we want."

"We want to bring economy into a safe position."

"Inflation could still be north of 5% next year, then down to 2.5% following year."

"Could have a couple of negative GDP quarters."

"We still have very tight labor market."

Market reaction

The greenback lost interest after these comments and the US Dollar Index was last seen losing 0.15% on the day at 104.37.