Rising consumer spending and inflation in the US support the case for the Federal Reserve to continue monetary policy tightening and raise interest rates. Despite the likelihood of a pause to the current rate hike campaign, the strong data has prompted some traders of interest rate futures to believe the Fed will still raise the target range for the benchmark rate by a quarter of a percentage point at June's meeting. Inflation remains stubbornly high, currently at 4.4% YoY, while core prices are up 4.7% compared with 4.6% in March.