Federal Reserve’s Waller urges patience, says ‘give disinflation a chance’

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller wants his colleagues to take a breath before reaching for the rate-hike lever again. Speaking on September 3, Waller signaled he’s inclined to keep the federal funds rate parked at its current 3.5% to 3.75% range at the upcoming FOMC meeting, arguing that recent inflation data deserves time to play out before policymakers react. His core message was blunt: “Give disinflation a chance. We can wait one meeting.” The numbers behind the patience Waller’s case for holding steady rests on a genuinely encouraging data point. The three-month core inflation rate dropped from 4.76% in February to 3.05% through July. That’s still well above the Fed’s 2% target, but the trajectory is moving in the right direction. He described the downward trend as “encouraging.” Waller also made a practical argument against hiking: a single 25-basis-point increase wouldn’t do much to meaningfully push CPI closer to target. Current monetary policy is, by his own analysis, only slightly restrictive, which means the existing rate level is doing some work on inflation already. A crowded field of risks Waller’s remarks didn’t happen in a vacuum. Tariffs implemented in 20...