MNI BRIEF: Fed’s Bostic Sees Lower Rates By Year-End

MNI (WASHINGTON) - Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic said interest rates will fall by the end of the year if the economy performs as he expects, adding that the risks to the central bank's dual employment and price goals are balancing. 

Asked whether the Fed is close to lowering interest rates, Bostic said: "Yes, it's coming. I want to see a little more data." Turning to the audience at the 2024 Conference for African American Finance Professionals, he said: "It is coming, if the economy evolves as I expect. You all will have bigger smiles on your face by the end of the year." (See MNI INTERVIEW: Fed To Cut Gradually If Growth Solid-Giannoni)

"A recession is not in my outlook," he said. "The balance of risks is kind of equilibrating," and "there's still enough momentum in the economy that we can see slowing and not see labor markets deteriorate to a level of considerable concern," he said. "I'm hopeful that in the next several months we'll be at a place where we have an economy that's pretty much fully normalized."