Hawkish
A hawkish stance puts fighting inflation first, even if that means raising rates or keeping them high. It generally supports the currency.
The term comes from the hawk, a bird of prey. A central banker is called hawkish when they stress inflation risks and signal that rates need to rise or stay high for longer.
In markets, a more hawkish tone than expected often lifts the currency concerned and bond yields, and can weigh on stocks. What matters is the gap with what the market was expecting.
Traders pore over every word of statements and press conferences: changing a single adjective in the FOMC statement can be enough to move EUR/USD by dozens of pips.