Fed’s Waller: Displeased with inflation uptick, but leaning toward December rate cut

Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Christopher Waller noted on Monday that while he is less than enthusiastic about a recent upswing in headline inflation figures, Governor Waller reiterated that he sees no reason to shift stance measurably as a result.

The Fed Governor took a potshot at markets that have been extraordinarily twitchy regarding single-month inflation data from one print to the next, saying that he sees no reason to ‘overreact’ to near-term inflation figures.

Key Quotes

I lean toward supporting a cut in December.

Still a ways to go in reducing policy rate to neutral, expects rate cuts to continue over the next year.

Monetary policy remains significantly restrictive.

The direction of policy rate over medium term is clearly down.

Recent data have raised concerns that inflation progress is stalling meaningfully above 2%.

I am less pleased about uptick in inflation, but don’t want to overreact.

The labour market is finally in balance, we should aim to keep it that way.

Average inflation targeting framework was very backward looking and blew up very quickly.