FOMC doesn't need to get to terminal rate immediately, Chicago Fed's Goolsbee says
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2024-11-22
Mark Wilson/Getty Images News
Inflation is on its way to the Federal Reserve's 2% goal and the overheated labor market has cooled to "something close to stable full employment," Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said in prepared remarks for a speaking engagement on Thursday.
"Things are getting close to where we want to settle on both counts. It follows that we will probably need to move rates to where we think they should settle, too," he said.
The central bank, though, doesn't need to get there immediately. "If we look out over the next year or so, it feels to me like rates will end up a fair bit lower than where they are today," according to the text.
"But when there’s uncertainty or disagreement about where rates will eventually settle, it may make sense to slow the pace of rate cuts as we get close," he added.
Still, conditions "change all the time." That's why the Federal Open Market Committee meets every six weeks to reassess and recalibrate, Goolsbee noted.