(Bloomberg) -- Recent US economic data have given Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly “more confidence” that inflation is under control and it’s time to consider adjusting benchmark borrowing costs, but the economy is “not in an urgent place,” according to the Financial Times.
Speaking in an interview with the newspaper last Thursday, Daly urged a “prudent” approach to policy, pushing back against concerns about the risk of a sharp slowdown in the US economy.
With data pointing to a slowdown in consumer-price inflation and a weakening of the labor market, economists and traders have recently ramped up expectations for interest-rate reductions by the US central bank. Market bets suggest that policy makers could lower the target range for fed funds from its current 5.25%-to-5.5% range as soon as next month.
Daly, who is a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee this year, spoke ahead of the Fed’s closely watched Jackson Hole conference this week, where Chair Jerome Powell is expected to deliver remarks that will help guide market thinking about the policy path heading into the final stretch of 2024.
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