A top US central banker has said she was focused on “preserving” the health of the jobs market, as she warned of the potential for “self-fulfilling” negativity on the economy raising the risk of a downturn.
Susan Collins, president of the Boston Federal Reserve, told the Financial Times on Thursday the world’s largest economy was “in a good place” now that inflation had receded and the labour market had cooled without any “red flags”.
With Collins confident inflation was on track to move down to the Fed’s 2 per cent goal, it was time to consider adjusting the benchmark federal funds target range from a 23-year high of 5.25 per cent to 5.5 per cent.