Fed’s Bostic

Inflation has come way down
We are close to being ready to cut rates
We’re going to have to think hard about what’s happening in labor markets
Our policy has had its effect and we can start pathway back to normal policy posture
The numbers in the last couple months have come in more positive
Underlying inflation is all flashing red still, we still have a ways to go
Inflation has come down faster than I expected and to me that says it may be appropriate to pull forward easing (he previously had only one cut on the dot plot)
You can’t ignore the data, it’s come in a way that shows it’s closer to moving than further
For me, I just want see the next couple of data points
We’re in a pretty good place, but I don’t take that for granted
The markets have been eager to get us to be finished. Patience is going to be warranted

There is some pushback here on future rates and twice he also said he wants to see ‘a couple’ or ‘a couple months’ of data. Of course, we’re not getting two months of anything before the September 18 FOMC. Bostic is something of a hawk so the pushback from him isn’t a huge surprise but it’s still hawkish in a market pricing in a 26% chance of 50 bps.

We will hear again from Bostic shortly as he’s scheduled to appear on Bloomberg.

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