{"id":29484,"date":"2026-05-22T19:03:22","date_gmt":"2026-05-22T19:03:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/feds-waller-warns-inflation-may-force-new-hikes-rattling-risk-assets\/"},"modified":"2026-05-22T19:03:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-22T19:03:39","slug":"feds-waller-warns-inflation-may-force-new-hikes-rattling-risk-assets","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/feds-waller-warns-inflation-may-force-new-hikes-rattling-risk-assets\/","title":{"rendered":"Fed\u2019s Waller warns inflation may force new hikes, rattling risk assets"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div class=\"post-detail__content blocks\">\n<p>Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller warned that stubborn inflation and surging energy costs now outweigh labor market risks, signaling that rate hikes are \u201cback on the table\u201d and jolting expectations that had been primed for cuts a few months ago.<\/p>\n<div id=\"cn-block-summary-block_ee5fc62424acf452e5756805068cf6f5\" class=\"cn-block-summary\">\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__nav tabs\">\n        <span class=\"tabs__item is-selected\">Summary<\/span>\n    <\/div>\n<div class=\"cn-block-summary__content\">\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Waller said US CPI hit 3.8% in April with energy prices up 17.9% as oil climbed above $100 per barrel<\/li>\n<li>Core PCE inflation rose to 3.3%, its highest level in more than two years, while unemployment held at 4.3% and GDP grew 2%<\/li>\n<li>He urged dropping the Fed\u2019s \u201ceasing bias\u201d and said rate increases cannot be ruled out if inflation does not abate soon<\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .cn-block-summary --><\/p>\n<p>In a speech described as \u201chawkish\u201d by Wall Street Journal economics correspondent Nick Timiraos, Waller argued that \u201cinflation is not headed in the right direction\u201d and that the balance of risks has shifted away from the labor market and toward price stability.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why is Waller calling for an end to the Fed\u2019s easing bias?<\/h2>\n<p>He pointed to April\u2019s 3.8 percent year on year consumer price index reading and a 17.9 percent jump in energy costs, which he tied to Middle East conflicts that have pushed oil above $100 per barrel and filtered into gasoline, transport and production costs across the economy.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">FED SIGNALS RATE HIKES BACK ON THE TABLE<\/p>\n<p>Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said the Fed may raise rates again if inflation stays high amid rising energy prices tied to the Iran war.<\/p>\n<p>Waller said rate cuts are no longer more likely than hikes and called for removing the\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 *Walter Bloomberg (@DeItaone) <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DeItaone\/status\/2057829438407008469?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">May 22, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<p>On the Fed\u2019s preferred core PCE gauge, which strips out food and energy, Waller noted that inflation has climbed to 3.3 percent, the highest level in more than two years, even as unemployment holds around 4.3 percent and real GDP grows near 2 percent.<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/i\/trending\/2057836526181200253\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cBased on this recent data, I would support removing the \u2018easing bias\u2019 language in our policy statement to make it clear that a rate cut is no more likely in the future than a rate increase,\u201d Waller said, in comments relayed by Bloomberg TV\u2019s Annmarie Hordern.<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/i\/trending\/2057836526181200253\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>At the same time, he stopped short of demanding an immediate move, with ZeroHedge highlighting his line that he does not think the Fed \u201cshould consider hikes in the near future,\u201d framing his stance instead as a live threat if inflation refuses to cool.<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/i\/trending\/2057836526181200253\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Timiraos summed up the shift by saying Waller \u201ccomes across as quite troubled by recent inflation developments,\u201d and reported that the governor believes markets are still underpricing the risk that higher energy prices will prove more persistent than investors expect.<a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/i\/trending\/2057836526181200253\"><\/a><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-could-wallers-hawkish-turn-mean-for-bitcoin-a\">What could Waller\u2019s hawkish turn mean for Bitcoin and crypto?<\/h2>\n<p>For crypto markets, Waller\u2019s warning hits the same macro channel that has powered Bitcoin\u2019s biggest moves this year, with traders toggling between \u201chigher for longer\u201d yields and recession\u2011driven rate cuts as they price digital assets against real rates and the dollar.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p>\n<p>Earlier this spring, Bitcoin rallied back above $70,000 as a Trump brokered two week ceasefire with Iran and hopes of policy easing sent risk assets surging, a pattern covered when\u00a0Bitcoin\u00a0(BTC) steadied while Iran briefly reopened the Strait of Hormuz even as oil markets stayed tight.<\/p>\n<p>More recently, crypto traded in lockstep with Middle East headlines and Fed repricing, with\u00a0crypto market outlook\u00a0reports noting how every twist in US Iran tensions and Hormuz blockade threats fed directly into bets on inflation, energy and the path of rates.<\/p>\n<p>If Waller\u2019s shift from a dovish bias to a posture where hikes are explicitly \u201cback on the table\u201d convinces markets that the next move could be up rather than down, higher real yields and a stronger dollar would usually pressure both gold and crypto, just as bullion slid below $4,500 as traders raised the odds of another Fed move.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, persistent 3.8 percent headline inflation and 3.3 percent core PCE also reinforce the long running narrative of Bitcoin as an alternative hedge against US policy slippage, a theme that resurfaced when\u00a0Bitcoin\u00a0reclaimed $70,000 on ceasefire relief even as bond markets priced in a more volatile rate path.<\/p>\n<p>The near term impact is likely to be higher volatility as macro desks reprice the Fed curve into year end and algorithmic flows lean against risk assets on any uptick in rate hike odds, a dynamic that has repeatedly amplified intraday swings across spot Bitcoin, leveraged crypto derivatives and related tokens whenever Fed officials pivot their tone.<\/p>\n<p>    <!-- .cn-block-related-link --><\/p><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller warned that stubborn inflation and surging energy costs now outweigh labor market risks, signaling that rate hikes are \u201cback on the table\u201d and jolting expectations&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-29484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cryptocurrency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29484"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29485,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29484\/revisions\/29485"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2062"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bitunikey.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}