Fed's Kashkari: Inflation still too high, at 3%

*FED'S HAMMACK SAYS INFLATION IS STILL TOO HIGH AND MOVING UP Fed's Hammack: The employment side of the Fed mandate challenged amid job market softening. FED'S HAMMACK: EXPECTS TARIFFS TO DRIVE UP INFLATION INTO EARLY NEXT YEAR Fed's Hammack: Labor market appears broadly balanced. Fed's Hammack: Monetary policy is currently barely restrictive, if at all.

*FED'S HAMMACK SAYS WORRIED ABOUT THE LABOR MARKET: MARKETWATCH turning dovish Fed's Hammack: I have high inflation sticking around - MarketWatch The U.S. official who is most serious about fighting inflation is in Cleveland Part of what drives Beth Hammack's relentless focus on inflation are the conversations she's had with people who live near her office. As president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Hammack is part of the U.S. central-banking system, which has 12 regional banks across the country that help it gather the economic data upon which monetary-policy decisions are based. Some of the data Hammack collects are what's known in the economics trade as soft data - anecdotes, stories, opinions and sentiment. Hammack's region is made up of Ohio, western Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky and parts of West Virginia, and when she goes to these areas, she said she hears about one thing more than any other - the impact of high prices. "When you talk with these low- and moderate-income families, people who are [paid] hourly, they are really struggling," Hammack said in an interview with MarketWatch. "They go from steak to ground beef, ground beef to hot dogs to beans, and at some point you're just having pasta or visiting the food bank." Hammack has been hearing these stories ever since she left Wall Street and her job as co-head of the global financing group at Goldman Sachs and was appointed in 2024 to run the Cleveland Fed. "Most of their paycheck is going to housing, food and transportation," said Hammack. "At some point that ha

FED'S DALY: UNCERTAINTY HAS COME DOWN QUITE A BIT IN U.S. ECONOMY U.S. ECONOMY HAS CAUTIOUS OPTIMISM WE STILL HAVE WORK TO DO TO BRING INFLATION DOWN TO 2% THE LABOR MARKET HAS SLOWED QUITE A BIT FED'S DALY: REALLY THINK THERE IS A PREMIUM ON WAITING TO DECIDE ON RATES UNTIL YOU HAVE AS MUCH INFORMATION