Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond President Thomas Barkin said there is a risk that U.S. businesses, which boosted profit margins and sales by raising prices over the last couple of years, may be slow to give up their practice of significant hikes.

“If you were selling something, it was pretty good” with higher volumes and profits, Barkin said during a moderated discussion at the Atlanta Economics Club. “Is it conceivable that’s purely off the table? I don’t think so. I think it’s going to be on the table for a while now.”

“I think there’s a real risk that there will be continued inflationary pressure,” Barkin said.

Fed officials led by Chair Jerome Powell have indicated they’re in no rush to start lowering rates despite making significant progress in their inflation battle in the second half of 2023. Policymakers have left rates unchanged since July and have signaled that the next move is likely a cut.

Barkin, who is a voting member of the Fed’s policy-setting committee this year, said it’s premature to believe inflation pressures are over.

“Declaring victory at this point seems pretty bold,” he said, adding he will be reviewing fresh inflation data out Tuesday.

The Fed will get an updated read then on the consumer price index, which economists expect probably rose less than 3% in January from a year earlier. The core CPI, a measure that excludes food and fuel for a better picture of underlying inflation, is seen increasing 3.7% in January from a year ago. That would mark the smallest year-over-year advance since April 2021.

Boeing outs executive from 737 Max team

Boeing said Wednesday that the head of its 737 jetliner program is leaving the company in an executive shake-up weeks after a door panel blew out on a flight over Oregon, renewing questions about safety at the company.

Boeing announced that Ed Clark, who had been with the company for nearly 18 years and led the 737 program since early 2021, was leaving immediately.

Clark oversaw the factory in Renton, Washington, where final assembly took place on the Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 involved in last month’s accident. Federal investigators said bolts needed to help keep a panel called a door plug in place were missing after repair work on the plane.

Katie Ringgold, a vice president in charge of delivering 737s to airlines, will succeed Clark as vice president and general manager of the 737 program and the Renton factory, according to an email to employees from Stan Deal, the CEO of Boeing’s commercial airplanes division.

The company announced several other appointments, including naming longtime executive Elizabeth Lund to the new position of senior vice president for commercial airplanes quality.

The moves are part of the company’s “enhanced focus on ensuring that every airplane we deliver meets or exceeds all quality and safety requirements,” Deal said in his email to staff. “Our customers demand, and deserve, nothing less.”

U.S. ports getting cybersecurity boost

President Joe Biden on Wednesday signed an executive order and created a federal rule aimed at better securing the nation’s ports from potential cyberattacks.

The administration is outlining a set of cybersecurity regulations that port operators must comply with across the country, not unlike standardized safety regulations that seek to prevent injury or damage to people and infrastructure.

“We want to ensure there are similar requirements for cyber, when a cyberattack can cause just as much if not more damage than a storm or another physical threat,” said Anne Neuberger, deputy national security adviser at the White House.

Nationwide, ports employ roughly 31 million people and contribute $5.4 trillion to the economy, and could be left vulnerable to a ransomware or other brand of cyberattack, Neuberger said. The standardized set of requirements is designed to help protect against that.

The new requirements are part of the federal government’s focus on modernizing how critical infrastructure like power grids, ports and pipelines are protected as they are increasingly managed and controlled online, often remotely. There is no set of nationwide standards that govern how operators should protect against potential attacks online.

Compiled from Bloomberg and Associated Press reports.