Fed's Neel Kashkari says it's time to discuss 'potentially cutting rates'

Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis president Neel Kashkari said on Monday that it was now time for the central bank to begin discussing potentially cutting US benchmark interest rates at its September meeting.

Kashkari told the Wall Street Journal: "The balance of risks has shifted, so the debate about potentially cutting rates in September is an appropriate one to have."

He stated the Federal Reserve had made good progress on taming inflation but noted the labour market was showing "concerning signs".

Kashkari also stated that he did not see any reason to lower interest rates in increments of larger than a quarter percentage point due to layoffs remaining low and unemployment claims seemingly not suggesting a notable deterioration.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com