President Donald Trump has repeatedly called for the Fed to cut rates.
A top Fed official has joined in the dovish calls and said he thinks a cut is warranted next month.
Stocks initially rose on the comments from Christopher Waller, but pared most gains.
President Donald Trump has said repeatedly this year that rates should come down. On Friday, the president got a concurring opinion from a top official inside the central bank.
Fed Gov. Christopher Waller told CNBC that he believes tariffs won’t have a big impact on inflation and that Powell should consider cutting rates next month.
“I think we’ve got room to bring it down, and then we can kind of see what happens with inflation,” Waller said, adding that rate cuts could be paused again if geopolitical tensions rise and push up inflation.
He also said that any concerns about the labor market should be addressed sooner rather than later, and the right call would be to “move now, don’t wait.”
Arguments over whether to cut interest rates and by how much have swirled in markets all year. Fed fund futures still imply an 83% chance of no cut in July, with the September meeting being eyed as the earliest date for a 25 basis point reduction.
Recently, Trump has been more vocal about his wish for the Fed to lower borrowing costs. Vice President JD Vance has also piled on, criticizing the central bank and describing its refusal to cut interest rates as “monetary malpractice.”
Waller’s dovish comments initially sparked a positive reaction in markets, though stocks pared most gains by late morning.
Here’s where major US indexes stood at 11:50 a.m. ET:
S&P 500: 5,985.71, up 0.08%
Dow Jones Industrial Average: 42,318.84, up 0.35% (+147.19 points)
Nasdaq Composite: 19,491.52, down 0.28%
Despite the blowback, Powell has been insistent on remaining in a holding pattern until the data shifts.
“We believe that the current stance of monetary policy leaves us well positioned to respond in a timely way to potential economic developments,” he said at the recent meeting, adding that he would have more to say after reviewing economic developments.
Trump has said he wished to fire Powell, though the market balked at the prospect of political meddling and forced him to temper his comments.
As for who could be the next Fed boss, betting markets see former Fed Gov. Kevin Warsh, former Trump economic advisor Judy Shelton, and current Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent as the top three most likely picks, though the highest odds show no pick before December 2025.
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