Federal Reserve Governors Stephen Miran and Christopher Waller provided conflicting views on how quickly the central bank should lower interest rates in the face of a weakening labor market and heightened geopolitical tensions.
Miran said Thursday he plans to repeat his push for a half-percentage-point interest rate cut when the central bank meets later this month.
In a speech delivered in New York, Waller advocated a quarter-percentage-point reduction at the meeting later this month, a position that appears more in line with the Fed consensus.
Taken together and combined with recent statements from other monetary policymakers, the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee looks to be on a clear path to more reductions, the extent to which remains unclear.
“Based on all of the data we have on the labor market, I believe that the FOMC should reduce the policy rate another 25 basis points at our meeting that concludes Oct. 29,” Waller told the Council on Foreign Relations. “But beyond that point, I will be looking for how the solid GDP data reconcile with the softening labor market.”
