Bowman Sees Fed On Hold With No 2024 Cuts With Inflation Lingering

Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman said she doesn’t expect it will be appropriate for the Fed to cut interest rates in 2024, pointing to persistent inflation in the first several months of the year.

Bowman made the comments in a Bloomberg News interview following a speech to bankers in Texas, where she urged the central bank to proceed “carefully and deliberately” as policymakers move toward the Fed’s 2% inflation goal.

michelle bowman

“I, at this point, have not written in any cuts” for 2024, Bowman said in the interview, referring to the economic projections officials submit each quarter. “I’ve sort of had an even expectation of staying where we are for longer. And that continues to be my base case.”

A series of policymakers this week have echoed calls for higher-for-longer rates. Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan, speaking in New Orleans Friday, said “it’s just too early to think about cutting rates,” given disappointing inflation data so far this year.

Earlier this week, Boston Fed President Susan Collins said it will take “more time than previously thought” to bring inflation sustainably down to the central bank’s 2% target, and Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari said that rates will likely stay high “for an extended period of time.”