Ella 
On Thursday, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said there was no rush to start cutting interest rates. Waller further said that we need to see further evidence of a pullback in inflation before leaning towards supporting a rate cut.
key quotes
The number of easing policies and interest rate cuts will depend on the economic data released.
The committee could wait a little longer before easing monetary policy.
Confused by the suggestion that delaying a rate cut or two could lead to a recession.
As far as I know, the claim that the lagged effects of interest rate hikes and rate cuts are asymmetric is not supported by any model.
In the absence of a major economic shock, delaying rate cuts by a few months should have no material impact on the economy in the short term.
Cutting interest rates too early could hamper the fight against inflation and potentially cause huge harm to the economy.
The economic data released since our last speech on January 16 reinforces our view that we need to verify whether the process of fighting inflation since the second half of 2023 will continue.
There is no rush to start cutting interest rates.
Last week’s inflation data reminded us that continued progress against inflation is not guaranteed.
It’s unclear whether inflation is being driven by weird seasonal factors and excessive increases in housing costs, or whether inflation is more stubborn than thought and will be harder to get back to target.
We need to see more data to know whether January’s inflation was “more noise than signal.”
This means that we need to wait longer before we can be confident enough that starting to cut interest rates will lead to inflation staying on the 2% trend.
Strong output and employment growth meant there was “no great urgency” to ease policy.
Policy easing is still expected this year.
Recent economic data has been hotter than expected, validating Chairman Powell’s “prudent risk management approach.”
The risk of waiting a little longer before easing is lower than the risk of acting too early.
Some indicators point to a slowdown in economic growth.
The latest job openings and resignations data may indicate that the labor market moderation may have stalled.
Based on inflation and producer price index, the core PCE price index is likely to be at an annualized rate of 2.8% in January, 2.4% in the 3-month period, and 2.5% in the 6-month period.
It is reassuring to know that the progress we are making is real, not fake.
It still believes that the 2% inflation target cannot be achieved until wage growth “increases”.
Watch to see if housing costs continue to be higher than expected.
Taking into account all aspects of inflation, “I think there are mainly upside risks” and inflation is expected to continue moving towards the 2% target.
It will take a few more months of inflation data to determine whether January was “barely on target” and whether we are still on track for price stability.
There are no signs of an imminent recession.
