(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden predicted the Federal Reserve would move to cut rates, as the administration places greater emphasis on housing costs in its election fight against Donald Trump. 

“I can’t guarantee it. But I bet — you betcha — those rates come down more, because I bet you that that little outfit that sets interest rates, it’s going to come down,” Biden said Friday in a speech in Philadelphia. He did not specify when he thought the cuts might begin.

Markets expect Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell to soon begin easing rates, with investors anticipating cuts beginning in June. 

Powell told lawmakers this week officials are “not far” from gaining enough confidence that the time is right to start cutting, bolstering expectations for a rate reduction in the coming months.

Friday’s jobs report signals a labor market that is gradually down- shifting, with moderating employment and pay gains that raise hopes that growth will continue without much risk of sparking another round of inflation. That scenario gives the Fed room to lower rates.

By tradition, the White House typically does not comment on Federal Reserve decisions, and Biden has previously pledged to respect the central bank’s independence. Biden veered from that precedent in December, when he said strong jobs numbers and cooling inflation were creating a “sweet spot” for the Fed to stop raising rates further.

Biden’s State of the Union speech on Thursday called for new steps to expand the housing supply, as he looks to confront voter outcry over the cost of living. Biden also predicted that rates would come down during that address, as he called for a $400 per month tax credit for new homebuyers to offset the cost of higher mortgage rates.

“Mortgage rates will come down as well, and the Fed acknowledges that,” Biden said Thursday.

(Updates in last paragraph to include State of the Union remarks. Previous versions of the story were corrected to remove notion Biden predicted Federal Reserve would move ‘soon’ that the Fed was seeking to raise rates instead of pause hikes.)

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