US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent says the Federal Reserve should not raise interest rates because of inflation driven by the energy shock from the Iran war. A senior Fed official has publicly disagreed.
"I'm not going to tell the Fed what to do. I am going to say they should have an open mind"
Bessent was speaking to CNBC on Friday 13 November. According to Reuters, he said reversing last year's rate cuts "just based on an energy supply shock" was not something he would do if he were on the Fed.
Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee contradicted him on the same network. Reuters reports that Goolsbee said price pressures were building far beyond what high oil prices could explain.
Reuters also reports that a stronger-than-expected US jobs report last week strengthened the case for further rate hikes. Al Jazeera, citing the CME FedWatch tracker, says a December hike remains likely.