Speaking in an interview on Bloomberg TV, St Louis Fed President and 2022 voting FOMC member James Bullard said that Core PCE is "quite high" and that the Fed should turn more hawkish over the course of the next few policy meetings. He said that if the bank accelerated the pace of their QE taper to $30B per month, this could open the door to a rate hike in Q1 2022 and that he agreed with USD STIR market pricing for two hikes in 2022. 

Bullard continued that turning more hawkish now could be advantageous as it could smooth out the normalisation process and result in the Fed having to do less at a later date. Nonetheless, Bullard conceded that rate increases would ultimately be a committee decision and "it is a big committee". 

When pressed for his thoughts on the upcoming Fed Chair nomination, Bullard said that whether US President Joe Biden chooses to renominate current Fed Chair Jerome Powell or to nominate Fed Board of Governors member Lael Brainard, there will be a lot of continuity.