Fed's Goolsbee sees gradual policy rate cuts over next 12-18 months

(Reuters) - Chicago Federal Reserve Bank Austan Goolsbee on Thursday said he sees a series of interest-rate cuts over the next year to year and a half, noting that inflation is now near the Fed's 2% goal and the economy is about at full employment, and the Fed's goal is to freeze those conditions in place. "Over a 12-18 month period, I think we are going to gradually, whatever word you want to use, move to a steady state" on the policy rate, Goolsbee said in a CNBC interview.

He noted that there was broad agreement among policymakers that rates need to drop a "fair amount" over that time period. Near-term, he said, there are likely to be more meetings where policy decisions will be close calls, as last month's was, as central bankers sift through sometimes conflicting data.

(Reporting by Ann Saphir)

You May Also Be Interested In

• Wells Fargo says CTAs bought US equities, gold and Treasuries
• Barclays says cooling U.S. data could stabilize tech stocks
• New Mexico gas pipeline for Oracle data center delayed to 2027