Too early to assess if US inflation will be sustained, Fed´s Lockhart says

A top US rate-setter continued to emphasise that the central bank might hike interest rates twice more in 2016, even while flagging risks to the economy and the outlook for inflation.

"Two rate hikes are certainly possible. We have enough (Fed policy) meetings remaining but it depends entirely on how the economy evolves," Dennis Lockhart, the president of the Federal Reserve bank of Atlanta told reporters in Amelia Island, Florida, Reuters reported.

Financial markets should place a greater probability on a 3 June interest rate hike from the US central bank, he also said.

Commenting on the possible risks that might arise from Brexit, he added: "it is the repercussions for the U.S. economy that would concern me...it's really a question of indications in financial markets of a reaction to rising uncertainty and the degree of volatility we are seeing again in financial markets".

He also indicated it was too early to determine whether inflation would firm in a sustainable manner and that he was looking to see whether the US economy was on track to expand by 2% in 2016.