In an interview with CNBC, Goolsbee stated that he believes the U.S. economy can afford a “fair amount” of interest rate reduction from the current level, gradually over time.
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee reportedly said on Friday that he is wary of the Fed front-loading too many rate cuts, stating that both sides of the central bank’s mandate are experiencing a “deterioration.”
In an interview with CNBC, Goolsbee said that he believes that the U.S. economy would be able to afford a “fair amount” of reduction in the interest rate from the current level, gradually over time, while expressing caution against cutting too quickly and “just counting on the inflation going away.”
“This uptick of inflation that we’ve been seeing, coupled with the payroll jobs numbers deteriorating, has put the central bank in a bit of a sticky spot where you’re getting deterioration of both sides of the mandate at the same time,” Goolsbee said in the interview.
On Wednesday, data from ADP showed private payrolls declined by 32,000 in September, amid further signs of weakening labor market conditions. This represents the largest decline in private jobs in two and a half years. The September payroll decline stands in contrast with Wall Street expectations of an addition of 45,000 jobs during the month, according to MarketWatch.
In September, Goolsbee said that he would be “comfortable” with the Fed lowering the interest rate to 3% if inflation cools to 2%. “If we are on the path to get inflation back down to where it’s supposed to be and where we promised we’re going to bring it, I think rates can come down some,” he said.
This was after the central bank cut the key borrowing rate by 25 basis points at the September meeting, bringing down the federal funds rate to the 4% to 4.25% range, in line with market expectations.
Meanwhile, U.S. equities gained in Friday’s opening trade. At the time of writing, the SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY), which tracks the S&P 500 index, was up 0.26%, while the Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) rose 0.17%. Retail sentiment around the S&P 500 ETF on Stocktwits was in the ‘neutral’ territory.
The iShares 7-10 Year Treasury Bond ETF (IEF) was down 0.06% at the time of writing.
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