(Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari repeated that he favors reducing interest rates at a slower pace in the coming quarters.
Kashkari, speaking Monday at an event in Wisconsin, said he supported the larger-than-normal rate cut that policymakers delivered last month, but indicated he sees smaller cuts at future meetings.
“Right now I am forecasting some more modest cuts over the next several quarters to get to something around neutral, but it’s going to depend on the data,” Kashkari said, referring to the level at which rates would neither stimulate nor restrict the economy.
To move more rapidly, he said, he’d need to see “real evidence that the labor market is weakening quickly.”
Policymakers cut rates for the first time since the onset of the pandemic at their meeting last month, lowering them by a half percentage point.
Economic data since that meeting have shown more robust hiring than previously thought over the past three months and hotter-than-expected inflation in September. Markets now see the central bank likely reducing rates by a quarter point at their Nov. 6-7 meeting.
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