(Bloomberg) -- U.S. central bankers are closely monitoring the spreading coronavirus, but it is “still too soon” to say whether it will result a material change to the outlook, Federal Reserve Vice Chairman Richard Clarida said.

“Monetary policy is in a good place and should continue to support sustained growth, a strong labor market, and inflation returning to our symmetric 2% objective,” Clarida said Tuesday in remarks prepared for delivery to a National Association for Business Economics gathering in Washington. “As long as incoming information about the economy remains broadly consistent with this outlook, the current stance of monetary policy likely will remain appropriate.”

Clarida said the virus is likely to have a “noticeable impact” on Chinese growth at least in the first quarter. “The disruption there could spill over to the rest of the global economy. But it is still too soon to even speculate about either the size or the persistence of these effects, or whether they will lead to a material change in the outlook.”

U.S. policy makers are about three weeks away from their next meeting where they will publish new economic forecasts for 2020 and the next two years. Fed officials are trying to gauge the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the U.S., which has prompted some private-sector economists to lower their first-quarter economic growth estimates. Traders and hedgers are fully pricing in the probability of a quarter-point cut in the benchmark lending rate to a target range of 1.25% to 1.5% by June. Nothing in Clarida’s prepared remarks suggest the Fed is ready to move.

The virus, which emerged in China late last year, has spread to nations including Italy, Iran, and South Korea. Worldwide deaths from the illness total 2,462, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and mainland cases in China total 76,936, even though they have quarantined 50 million people in more than a dozen cities.

Worries about a global economic slowdown resulting from travel, supply chain, and consumption disruptions provoked the worst stock market sell-off in two years on Monday with the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index closing 3.4% down. While share prices declined again Tuesday, investors continued to rush into U.S. government debt, with yields on 10-year Treasuries falling to a record low. Still, the U.S. economy started the year on a strong footing. Non-farm payrolls rose by 225,000 jobs in January, while low interest rates are supporting housing activity.

“The U.S. economy is in a good place,” Clarida said. The Federal Open Market Committee “will proceed on a meeting-by-meeting basis and will be monitoring the effects of our recent policy actions along with other information bearing on the outlook as we assess the appropriate path of the target range for the federal funds rate.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Craig Torres in Washington at ctorres3@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Margaret Collins at mcollins45@bloomberg.net, Alister Bull, Ana Monteiro

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