Overview
- Chicago Fed’s Austan Goolsbee and Cleveland Fed’s Beth Hammack, in a podcast interview recorded Wednesday, rated inflation in the warning zone and said tariffs and the Iran war are lifting energy costs.
- Following Friday’s March jobs report, payrolls posted the biggest monthly gain since January 2025 and the jobless rate fell to 4.3% because many people left the labor force.
- Hammack said inflation has topped the Fed’s 2% goal for five years and has barely improved for about two years, which she described as a vibrant orange on their risk scale.
- Goolsbee called the price outlook at least orange and drifting toward red, describing a stagflationary shock as gasoline prices rise and growth faces new headwinds.
- Hammack judged the financial system generally green as markets absorbed recent losses, while Goolsbee voiced concern about frothy asset prices, and both pointed away from near‑term rate cuts that would keep loans costly for households and businesses.