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Daly Says Fed Rate Adjustment Likely Warranted After Latest Data

(Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco President Mary Daly said given recent data on employment and inflation, some adjustment to interest rates will likely be warranted—though she stopped short of offering a specific timeline for cuts.

“At this point, it is clear that the risk to our mandated goals of price stability and full employment have come into better balance and that monetary policy is working,” Daly told reporters Thursday on a conference call after the release of June data on consumer prices.

“With the information we have received to date, which includes data on employment, inflation, GDP growth and the outlook for the economy, I see it as likely that some policy adjustment will be warranted,” she said.

The consumer price index fell in June for the first time in four years, and a core gauge excluding food and energy posted a smaller-than-expected increase on the back of a long-awaited slowdown in rental inflation.

Those numbers followed a monthly jobs report published July 5, which showed unemployment rose for a third straight month to 4.1%, the highest since November 2021.

Investors are almost fully pricing in quarter-point rate cuts in September and December in the wake of the CPI release, and putting better-than-even odds on a cut in November as well, according to futures.

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