In a Wall Street Journal interview, Fed’s Daly supports a 25 basis point rate cut in December.
-
Daly says she supports cutting rates at the December meeting due to rising risks of a sudden labor-market deterioration.
-
Warns the job market is “vulnerable” and could have a nonlinear downturn, which she sees as harder to manage than an inflation flare-up.
-
Says tariff-related inflation pressures have been more muted than expected, reducing the risk of an inflation breakout.
-
Daly rarely diverges from Powell publicly, making her stance notable as the committee remains divided.
-
Still believes the Fed can return inflation to 2% without higher unemployment—and that failing to do so would be a policy failure.
-
Notes the economy has been in a “low-hiring, low-firing” equilibrium, but warns it is fragile and could break negatively if layoffs rise or output slows.
Based on recent comments, 3 of 7 Fed governors are leaning toward a cut. 3 are unclear while 1 is favoring a pause. Of the voting Presidents, 1 is in favor of a cut (near Fed Pres. Williams), while 4 are favoring a pause. That would imply 4 voting for a cut and 5 voting for a pause with 3 voting members unclear including the Fed chair Powell.
The market is pricing in a 19 basis points of easing/76% chance of a cut.
Board of Governors (all vote):
-
Powell: Unclear
-
Jefferson: Unclear
-
Bowman: Cut
-
Barr: Pause
-
Cook: Unclear
-
Miran: Cut
-
Waller: Cut
Voting Reserve Bank Presidents:
-
Williams (NY): Cut
-
Collins (Boston): Pause
-
Goolsbee (Chicago): Pause
-
Musalem (St. Louis): Pause
-
Schmid (Kansas City): Pause
Looking at the nonvoting presidents, Feds Hammack is the most hawkish. There are 4 who are in favor of a pause while 2 are in favor of cutting. Fed’s Barkin is unsure.
-
Hammack (Cleveland): Pause
-
Kashkari (Minneapolis): Pause
-
Logan (Dallas): Pause
-
Paulson (Philadelphia): Cut
-
Daly (San Francisco): Cut
-
Bostic (Atlanta): Pause
-
Barkin (Richmond): Unclear











