Chicago Fed Austan Goolsbee has highlighted the critical role of ongoing inflation data in shaping Fed’s future interest rate decisions. In an interview with Reuters, Goolsbee underlined that it is premature to make definitive decisions about rate adjustments at this juncture.
Goolsbee’s said, “I still think that the primary determinant of when and how much rates should be cut will be driven off what’s happening to the inflation data, and are we meeting the mandate goals.”
He also emphasized the importance of not rushing into policy decisions based on incomplete data sets. “When we have weeks or months of data to come, I don’t like tying our hands … We don’t make decisions about March, June, and whatever, in January,” he remarked.
Regarding the December CPI reading, Goolsbee noted that it was largely in line with expectations. However, he observed some variations within the data, specifically mentioning that services inflation was cooler than anticipated, while housing inflation was slightly higher.
