Economist: The Federal Reserve needs a more gradual pace of interest rate cuts

Brian Jacobsen, chief economist at ANNEX Wealth Management, said the Fed had not added any drama to the week. The 25 basis point cut still puts the federal funds rate in a restrictive range, but not as tight as it used to be. While the Fed says the risks to its employment and inflation targets are roughly balanced, they should probably put "roughly" in italics. Because the election matters, we can see a slight improvement in economic growth relative to the Fed's forecasts, but inflation is also up slightly relative to their forecasts, which requires a more gradual pace of rate cuts. They don't need to pull back on their plans, but they don't need to accelerate the pace of rate cuts either. "