U.S. Fed’s Austan Goolsbee Says More Good Data Needed Before Starting Cuts
Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee reiterated that he’d like to see more of the favorable inflation data published in the past several months but did not explicitly rule out the potential for an interest-rate cut in March.
(Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee reiterated that he’d like to see more of the favorable inflation data published in the past several months but did not explicitly rule out the potential for an interest-rate cut in March.
“We’ve had seven months of really quite good inflation reports, right around or even below the Fed’s target,” Goolsbee said Monday in an interview on Bloomberg Television with Michael McKee. “So if we just keep getting more data like what we have gotten, I believe that we should well be on the path to normalization.”
Goolsbee repeated that he doesn’t want to commit to a specific decision with weeks to go before the Fed’s March meeting. He also said he doesn’t want to speculate on the possibility of a larger, half percentage point cut at some point.
Goolsbee’s comments echoed those made by Chair Jerome Powell in an interview conducted Thursday with CBS’s , during which he said policymakers will likely wait beyond March to lower rates.
Read More: Powell Tells ‘60 Minutes’ Fed Is Wary of Cutting Rates Too Soon
Fed officials have kept interest rates unchanged since July amid a pullback in inflation. They’ve indicated an openness to cutting rates this year but have signaled they’re in no rush to do so.
Goolsbee said credit conditions have tightened over the past 18 months or so. The Fed is expected to release its quarterly Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey, which details bank lending practices, on Monday at 2 p.m. in Washington.
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