Fed’s Daly: If inflation stays elevated, we would hold steady

Mary Daly, President of the Federal Reserve (Fed) Bank of San Francisco, told Reuters in an interview on Friday that if Iran conflict is resolved quickly and Oil prices come back down, a rate cut may not be out of the question.

Key takeaways:

If Iran conflict resolves quickly and oil prices come back down, a rate cut is 'not out of the question'.

If inflation stays elevated for longer than anticipated, we would hold steady until we know we are getting the inflation job done.

We had work to do on inflation before the oil price shock; now, the work just takes longer.

I put a lower probability on a rate hike than on a cut or holding steady.

Persistently high oil prices would mean higher inflation but would also hurt growth.

We're already seeing higher prices show through to the economy with people pulling back on travel because they are worried about higher costs.

Extremely important to bring inflation to 2%, but doing that at the expense of jobs puts families behind the eight ball.

US economic fundamentals 'solid,' labor market in a steadier place.

Risks to fed's goals of full employment, inflation are balanced.

Need to see what happens with the conflict and how businesses are passing along price increases.

Seeing surcharges, which can be reversed, rather than price increases.

Policy is restrictive enough to put downward pressure on inflation, balanced enough to support a steady labor market.

Policy in a good place gives us more time to see how conflict resolves and what happens to oil prices.

High CPI reading will not be a surprise to anyone.

The real question is does the ceasefire persist, and if it does the CPI will be old news.”