Chicago Fed President: Inflation still "stuck at 3%" Federal Reserve rate cut conditions not yet met.

Chicago Federal Reserve President Evans said that as long as inflation returns to the track of falling back towards the 2% target, the Federal Reserve still has room to further cut interest rates. However, at present, this condition has not been met. Evans said in an interview on Friday: "I believe there is still room for rate cuts, possibly more than once, but the prerequisite is that inflation must clearly return to the path towards 2%. The problem now is that we are not on this path, inflation seems to be stuck at around 3%, which is unacceptable." He once again emphasized concerns about service price inflation. Data released earlier in the day showed that service prices accelerated again in January, becoming an important source of sticky inflation. Although overall prices rose 2.4% year-on-year, lower than market expectations, structural pressures have not eased significantly. In terms of policy, the Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates unchanged at the monetary policy meeting last month. Before that, the Federal Reserve had cut interest rates three times in a row by the end of 2025 to address signs of weakness in the labor market at that time. Evans and some colleagues have recently stated that the current US job market is showing more stable characteristics, which means that substantial progress in inflation needs to be seen before further rate cuts can be supported. A report released earlier this week also showed that recruiting activities in the United States remained stable in January, further strengthening policymakers' judgment that "employment risks have temporarily eased". In this context, the consensus within the Federal Reserve on the subsequent policy path is gradually shifting, and whether to cut rates again still depends on whether inflation can truly approach the 2% target.