Fed must move 'expeditiously' and, if needed, more aggressively: Powell

Fed policymakers last week raised interest rates for the first time in three years and signaled ongoing rate hikes ahead

The U.S. central bank must move "expeditiously" to bring too-high inflation to heel, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Monday, adding that it could use bigger-than-usual interest rate hikes if needed to do so.

"The labor market is very strong, and inflation is much too high," Powell said in remarks prepared for delivery to a National Association for Business Economics conference. "There is an obvious need to move expeditiously to return the stance of monetary policy to a more neutral level, and then to move to more restrictive levels if that is what is required to restore price stability."

In particular,