Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee discussed the upcoming May FOMC meeting, the strength of the job market, and persistent inflation in an interview. Goolsbee cautioned against reading too much into his stance on interest rates, stating, “We still got a couple of weeks before the actual meeting, so if anybody imputed some specific basis points of what I was for, that’d be inaccurate.”
Goolsbee acknowledged the strong job market as the most robust part of the economy, with “unprecedented numbers,” while noting that inflation remains a concern. He said, “Inflation — there’s been some improvement, but in a way that’s the worst part of the economy,” adding that it has been “more persistent than we wanted.”
As for the potential impact of the recent failure of two US banks on the economy, Goolsbee said it is essential to monitor the extent of the slowdown. He explained, “How much squeezing is going to be coming from the bank side I think is going to matter for whether this economy is going to slow down.” Goolsbee emphasized that the intensity of the anticipated growth slowdown in the second half of the year would depend significantly on the financial sector.
