Minneapolis Fed's Neel Kashkari on rate cut.....>

FED: Minneapolis Fed's Neel Kashkari on rate cut this week: "This was an

insurance that we took out because nobody knows how bad the virus is going to

be."

-"We could always raise interest rates in the future" if virus isn't that bad.

-"It was not that difficult a decision."

-Moves to fight repo squeeze aren't QE because Fed wasn't buying long-term

bonds.

-Fed can use QE/forward guidance if rates get around zero, we have more

confidence/experience with them now.

-Asked about "Fed put" on stock market, said "We have to do what's best for the

US economy" not stock market, and bond yield plunge had more information for Fed

on signs investors saw growth at risk.

-Asked about Trump pressure, said at FOMC "politics literally never enters into

it" and Powell is same way.

-Kashkari spoke Thursday night at University of Minnesota.