12:46 PM EST, 11/20/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman said Wednesday at the Forum Club of the Palm Beaches, Florida, that the Federal Open Market Committee should move carefully when lowering rates as upside risks to inflation remain.

Progress on inflation has stalled after trending lower over most of the last year, adding the risk of rebounding if rates are adjusted downward too rapidly, Bowman said. "Moving the policy rate down too quickly, in my view, would carry the risk of stoking demand unnecessarily and potentially reigniting inflationary pressures."

"I see greater risks to the price stability side of our mandate, especially while the labor market remains near full employment, but it is also possible that we could see a deterioration in labor market conditions," Bowman said. "These predictions always come with a dose of humility, however, particularly because they rely on imperfect data."

Bowman said that the employment statistics have also been particularly hard to interpret recently due to the dynamics of business openings and closures and immigration. The Bureau of Labor Statistics announced on Nov. 1 that nonfarm payrolls rose by only 12,000 in October and private payrolls actually declined by 28,000 jobs, mostly due to weather impacts.

"In light of the dissonance created by conflicting economic signals, measurement challenges, and data revisions, I remain cautious about taking signal from only a limited set of real-time data releases," Bowman said.