Fed should calibrate rate cut sizes using labor data: Economist

The Federal Reserve's interest rate cut was a long time coming, the first rate reduction since 2020. But what was a 50-basis-point cut too aggressive a move too soon as Fed Chair Jerome Powell assures that the central bank is not behind the curve?

Nationwide Mutual senior vice president and chief economist Kathy Bostjancic sits down with Seana Smith and Brad Smith in-studio to talk more about the Fed's soft landing hopes stemming from its rate cut ā€” "there's always the risk that they've [the Fed has] been a little too slow in doing this" ā€” and how she is interpreting key economic data.

"At the heart of it, it is about inflation slowing. And if it continues to ease, interest rates should be lowered in line with that. I look at the employment data, labor market data as telling us how they really need to calibrate the size of those rate cuts. And do they go quicker, because we do see this slowing in the labor market? That's not what the Fed is forecasting," Bostjancic tells Yahoo Finance.

"Or do we continue to kind of cruise along, above 100,000 jobs each month, and then that means we're we're on path for a soft landing?"

For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Morning Brief.

This post was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.