Federal Reserve's Goolsbee: Lack of reliable inflation data warrants caution on rate cuts

Jinse Finance reported that Federal Reserve's Goolsbee said on Thursday that the lack of official inflation data during a government shutdown "further highlights" his cautious stance on further rate cuts. In an interview, Goolsbee said, "My inclination is that when the road ahead is still foggy, we should be more careful and slow down." Goolsbee pointed out that the Federal Reserve can still access various private data on the job market, including the newly launched biweekly unemployment rate estimate by the Chicago Fed. The latest data shows that the unemployment rate in October may rise to 4.4%, the highest level in four years. He stated that this estimate, along with most other labor market indicators, shows that "the job market remains quite stable." "If the labor market starts to deteriorate, we can almost immediately see signs." However, he also mentioned that alternative data sources on inflation are very limited. Before the government suspended the release of economic data, statistics showed signs of a rebound in inflation. He said, "If there is a problem with inflation, there will actually be no corresponding observational data to reflect it, which makes me even more cautious about cutting rates prematurely."