financetom
Economy
financetom
/
Economy
/
Fed's Bowman open to cutting rates at July policy meeting
News World Market Environment Technology Personal Finance Politics Retail Business Economy Cryptocurrency Forex Stocks Market Commodities
Fed's Bowman open to cutting rates at July policy meeting
Jun 23, 2025 7:28 AM

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Federal Reserve Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman, recently tapped by President Trump as the central bank's top bank overseer, said Monday the time to cut interest rates may be fast approaching as she is growing more worried about risks to the job market and is less concerned tariffs will cause an inflation problem.

"It is time to consider adjusting the policy rate," Bowman said in the text of remarks to be delivered before a gathering held in Prague, Czech Republic. Bowman said inflation appears to be on a sustained path back to 2% and she said she expects "only minimal impact" on inflation from trade policy.

"Should inflation pressures remain contained, I would support lowering the policy rate as soon as our next meeting in order to bring it closer to its neutral setting and to sustain a healthy labor market," Bowman said.

Last week, the Federal Reserve meeting in a gathering that left its overnight target-rate range fixed between 4.25% and 4.5%. Officials remained in a wait-and-see mode amid the considerable economic uncertainty created by President Donald Trump's erratically implemented trade policy. Fed officials are worried surging import taxes could depress growth while restarting what had been cooling inflation pressures.

Bowman said in her speech that she supported the Fed's decision to hold steady. But the appears to see far fewer storm clouds ahead for the economy, and in her speech, she said more clarity is arriving over the outlook. Bowman's openness to cutting rates is joined by that of Fed Governor Christopher Waller, who said in a television interview Friday he'd also consider a rate cut at the July 29-30 meeting. Waller is widely considered to be in the running to succeed Fed Chair Jerome Powell, whose term ends next year.

Trump has repeatedly pressured the Fed to pursue very large rate cuts amid insults to Powell. Observers believe any Fed chair would need to align with Trump's desire for much lower short-term borrowing costs.

In her remarks, Bowman noted the job market is still in a good place but she's more worried about what lies ahead for the sector, and that's part of what's informing her dovish monetary policy views.

"We should also recognize that downside risks to our employment mandate could soon become more salient, given recent softness in spending and signs of fragility in the labor market," Bowman said.

The Fed official was also quite sanguine on the inflation outlook, saying "it appears that any upward pressure from higher tariffs on goods prices is being offset by other factors and that the underlying trend in core [Personal Consumption Expenditures] inflation is moving much closer to our 2% target than is currently apparent in the data."

Comments
Welcome to financetom comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.
Sign up to post
Sort by
Show More Comments
Related Articles >
US equity funds draw largest weekly inflow in eight weeks
US equity funds draw largest weekly inflow in eight weeks
May 17, 2024
(Reuters) - U.S. equity funds attracted significant inflows in the seven days to May 15, fuelled by expectations of Federal Reserve rate cuts following subdued U.S. jobs data and a softer-than-anticipated inflation reading. Investors pumped a net $5.78 billion into U.S. equity funds, the most in a week since March 20, data from LSEG showed. Wednesday's report showing a slowdown...
April Unemployment Rate Declines Largest in Arizona, Mississippi, Montana and Maine
April Unemployment Rate Declines Largest in Arizona, Mississippi, Montana and Maine
May 17, 2024
10:12 AM EDT, 05/17/2024 (MT Newswires) -- State-level data released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics Friday showed the unemployment rate fell in five states in April, rose in two and held steady elsewhere. The largest unemployment rate declines were in Arizona, Mississippi, Montana and Maine, where it fell by 0.2 percentage point in each state. North Dakota and South...
US Dollar Pares Gains After CB Leading Index Falls Further than Expected
US Dollar Pares Gains After CB Leading Index Falls Further than Expected
May 17, 2024
10:27 AM EDT, 05/17/2024 (MT Newswires) -- The US dollar continued to pare prior gains over most major currencies in early North American trade on Friday after the Conference Board's Leading Economic Index fell further than was expected for the month of April. Conference Board's Leading Index fell 0.6% in April, deepening the 0.3% decline seen in March while undershooting...
NY Fed announces launch of new supply chain pressure metrics
NY Fed announces launch of new supply chain pressure metrics
May 17, 2024
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is bolstering its data offerings tracking the state of supply chains. The bank said Friday that it is launching new Supply Availability Indexes via a blog posting on Monday that going forward will feature as part of its regular monthly surveys of regional business activity. Noting that supply chain...
Copyright 2023-2026 - www.financetom.com All Rights Reserved