A Conversation with Cleveland Federal Reserve President Beth Hammack

Thank you, Baiju, for that kind introduction. And thanks to the 50 Club of Cleveland for kicking off the discussions to make this event a reality, to the Greater Cleveland Partnership, for helping organize this event with us, and to the City Club for hosting us today. I am going to start by looking back at history—my own. As an aspiring history and economics major in high school in the late 1980s, I myself might qualify as ancient history at this point. But I want to take you back to 1988: Ronald Reagan was president, you may have been carrying around a pager, and Browns’ quarterback Bernie Kosar was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated. A hip-hop song called “It Takes Two” by Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock was playing on the radio. If you didn’t hear, Rob Base passed away recently, so this song has been top of mind. In case you need a reminder, the refrain goes, “It takes two to make a thing go right. It takes two to make it outta sight.” I apologize for my singing voice and my questionable taste in music. And because I’m pretty sure the musical preferences of my colleagues on the Federal Open Market Committee are substantially better than my own, I’ll point out that these are only my views, musically and otherwise. What I’m not going to apologize for is that song playing on a loop in your head for the rest of the day, because I want you to use it to re FED'S HAMMACK SAYS IT MAKES SENSE TO KEEP INTEREST RATES UNCHANGED DUE TO UNCERTAINTIES. FED OFFICIAL HAMMACK EXPRESSES MAIN CONCERN ABOUT INCREASING RISK OF LONG-LASTING INFLATION PRESSURES. Fed's Hammack: Worried monetary policy may not be tight enough to lower inflation. Fed's Hammack remains firmly committed to getting inflation back to 2%.

Gold continues to assert its dominance in global financial markets as an important monetary asset, with the European Central Bank highlighting a significant milestone for the precious metal. In its annual report examining the international role of the euro, the ECB noted that although central bank gold demand slowed last year, it was still enough to push ...

The share of gold in total official foreign reserves - comprising both foreign exchange and gold holdings - had increased to 27% at the end of 2025, moving ahead of U.S. Treasurys at 22%. Share of central-bank holdings by asset. The move was driven by valuation effects - gold purchases actually slowed down last year, but prices (GC00) surged. Using 2023 ...