Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said on the 2nd that the September employment report showed the labor market is stable, and that addressing inflation has become an important task for the Federal Reserve. Asked on the Fox Business Network program "The Big Money" whether the Fed should decide to raise rates again at this month's meeting or hold off, Goolsbee said both a hike and a hold "still have plenty of room for consideration," adding, "I want to see whether the evidence comes together showing that inflation is once again falling toward our 2 percent target." At its FOMC meeting held September 15-16, the Fed decided on a 0.25 percentage point rate hike, the first increase in three years and two months since July 2023, and the decision was unanimous. Expectations that another rate hike will be decided at the next FOMC meeting on October 27-28 are receding. Goolsbee does not have a vote on this year's FOMC.
Goolsbee says both a hike and a hold remain options and wants evidence inflation is falling to 2%, leaving the near-term policy rate path uncertain.
Mixed Fed signals on whether to hike again or hold keep the 10Y yield direction unclear, though receding hike expectations lean toward lower yields.
