Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee struck a cautious tone overnight, warning that the central bank itself risks “front-loading too many rate cuts” before it has enough information to judge whether inflation is truly easing again. He stressed that his concern is not about the Fed’s destination — he still believes rates “are going to go down” over the medium term — but rather about the wisdom of easing too quickly in the short run given the recent inflation uptick.
Goolsbee said he remains uneasy about rising services inflation based on the data published before the government shutdown. He emphasized that the absence of fresh, reliable inflation readings has left policymakers with limited visibility, noting there are few credible private sources to bridge the gap created by missing official data.
