By Michael S. Derby 

Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis President James Bullard said Monday it's unclear right now whether or not his colleagues will support more rate cuts, but he said the ones made so far have added quite a bit of stimulus to the outlook.

"U.S. monetary policy is considerably more accommodative today than it was as of late last year," based on how markets have reacted to the Fed's two quarter-percentage-point rate cuts, Mr. Bullard said in materials for a presentation in Effingham, Ill.

Mr. Bullard dissented at the Federal Open Market Committee meeting last week. He preferred a more aggressive half-percentage point move down, relative to the action favored by most of his colleagues. Markets broadly expect the Fed to lower rates again, but the central bank isn't offering much guidance on this front as it navigates a strong economy best by risks, mostly on the global growth and trade fronts.

"The FOMC may choose to provide additional accommodation going forward, but decisions will be made on a meeting-by-meeting basis," Mr. Bullard said.

Mr. Bullard said the storm clouds around the economy aren't likely to fade soon. Amid this uncertainty, "the key risk is that this slowing may be sharper than anticipated," he said. The official added, "recent developments in global trade negotiations suggest that it will be difficult to reach a stable global trade regime over the forecast horizon," and this has cast a chill over business investment.

Mr. Bullard also said the Fed's rate cuts should help lift inflation back to the central bank's 2% target.

Write to Michael S. Derby at michael.derby@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 23, 2019 13:16 ET (17:16 GMT)

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