Fed's Goolsbee opposes aggressive rate cuts, says slowing employment doesn't mean recession

According to the Financial Times, Federal Reserve Chairman Goolsbee warned against a series of interest rate cuts, saying a sharp slowdown in the job market does not signal an imminent recession. Goolsbee supported a 25 basis point rate cut at last week's Federal Open Market Committee meeting. But he recently indicated that he may be less willing to support further rate cuts in the upcoming policy vote. "I would be concerned about prematurely cutting rates too much based on the assumption that [inflation] is likely to be temporary and will subside on its own," he said, adding that many Midwestern businesses remain concerned that inflation is not yet under control. Goolsbee said a new set of labor market statistics compiled by the Chicago Fed, which integrates several economic reports to produce real-time data, shows only a "modest" cooling in the job market and does not indicate that the US economy is in the midst of a sharp slowdown. "Our job market remains generally solid and reliable," Goolsbee said. Goolsbee said he supported last week's rate cut due to signs that Trump's trade war is having less of an impact on inflation than many economists had feared, in part because many of the United States' major trading partners have shown little interest in retaliating against the White House.