Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee spoke in an interview late on Friday in an interview on US National Public Radio.
Goolsbee tends towards the less hawkish of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) spectrum. His comments were not overtly dovish, he leaned towards further rate hikes and data dependence. Remarks:
- "There are conflicting pieces of evidence coming in on the economy: are we too hot and need more, have we done enough by raising the interest rate five full percentage points over the last year?"
- "We just going to have play it by ear, I guess,"
- "For me, the forecast is pretty benign, and the question is, are we on that golden path, or not," (re cooling inflation without starting a substantial recession).
More specifically on the FOMC on-hold rate decisions at the June meeting last week:
- “I think of it as a reconnaissance mission, pausing now to go scope it out before charging up the hill another time,”
NPR have provided the full transcript of the interview here if you are interested.
Goolsbee