MNI BRIEF: Fed's Goolsbee Sees Rates 'A Fair Bit Lower'
MNI (WASHINGTON) - Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee reiterated Friday interest rates will be "a fair bit lower" by the end of next year, after the September jobs report surpassed expectations and the U.S. unemployment rate dipped to 4.1%.
Goolsbee cautioned against too much focus on the "superb" September jobs report, noting a margin of error of plus or minus 130,000 jobs. "If you look at the end of 2025, do you think we're still going to be in the spot where we are now? And I think we're going to be a fair bit lower if conditions continue like this," he said in an interview with Yahoo Finance!. He added the FOMC's latest projections for the next year to 18 months "feels right to me." (See: MNI INTERVIEW: Fed Can Cut Gradually If Jobs Stay Strong-Kohn)
"The critical question as the job market cools to a sustainable full employment level: can we stop there, or is it going to deteriorate and kind of crash through normal? The more reports like this we get, the more confident I would be that we are where we want to be."