Cleveland Fed’s Hammack Advocates Patience on Further Cuts

Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Beth Hammack says the Fed should continue to be cautious with further interest-rate cuts amid slower recent progress getting inflation back to the central bank’s 2% target. “I believe that monetary policy has the luxury of being patient as we assess the path forward, and this will likely mean holding the federal-funds rate steady for some time,” Hammack said in a speech at Columbia University in New York. “We have made good progress, but 2% inflation is not in sight just yet.” In December, Hammack dissented against the Fed’s final 2024 rate cut, saying that she would have preferred to hold rates unchanged—as the Fed later did at its January meeting. Hammack does not have a vote on the Fed’s policy committee in 2025.