Loretta Mester:
I don’t think they were too late on getting to a place where they can cut. Remember, they did bring rates down last fall. And so policy has moved.
Then, when the tariff effects were put on and the on-and-off tariff impacts and the coming what will happen with inflation readings, I think they were right to really take a step back from those cuts and say, we have got to be very cognizant of what’s going to happen to inflation, not just today, but where it’s going.
And the labor market until the last reading was quite strong. And it’s still — we still haven’t seen an increase in the unemployment rate. That’s because the supply of labor is also coming down, even though firms’ demand for labor is coming down. So the labor market is in balance. And the chair in his speech pointed out, but it’s a curious balance, because it’s quite unusual to have both the supply and demand coming down in tandem, so you don’t get that change in the unemployment rate.
