United States Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago President Austan Goolsbee said on Wednesday that he sees continued progress in disinflation and is optimistic about a "soft landing" in 2025.
While talking at the Wisconsin Bankers Association 2025 Midwest Economic Forecast Forum, Goolsbee commented on today's inflation report, calling it "somewhat encouraging, somewhat discouraging in equal measure." He noted that the Fed looks to Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) inflation rather than only the Consumer Price Index (CPI) and that the former has been "very close" to the bank's target of 2% in recent months.
Goolsbee also commented on the potential effect of the incoming Trump administration's policies on monetary policy and stated that the bank considers the impact of all policies as a whole, rather than individual policies, so that if United States President-elect Donald Trump and Congress draft policies that raise prices, the Fed will have to take that into account.
