WASHINGTON: A senior US Federal Reserve official said Tuesday that she supports two more interest rate cuts this year, noting that the jobs market is weakening in the world’s biggest economy.
“I continue to see two more cuts before the end of this year,” Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman told an event in Washington.
This implies lowering rates at the central bank’s next two policy meetings, in October and December respectively.
Bowman signalled that she has penned in two more 25-basis-points reductions for now.
The Fed made its first interest rate cut of 2025 last month as the employment market deteriorated.
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Policymakers had initially held off lowering rates this year as they monitored the effects of Donald Trump’s fresh tariffs on inflation – despite the president’s repeated calls to slash levels.
But Bowman said Tuesday that even though the United States was not seeing official statistics being published because of an ongoing government shutdown, “what I would tell you is that we’re continuing to see additional job losses in the economy.”
“We’re also seeing a softening in consumer spending,” she said.
While the unemployment rate remains historically low, it is creeping up.
“It’s hard for college graduates to get jobs, and people who are looking for jobs are really struggling,” she said.
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