Waller: Soft February jobs support March cut; strong report favors pause
Central bank policymaker Chris Waller said his vote at the March meeting will hinge on the February jobs report, as reported by Bloomberg. He indicated that softer labor data would strengthen the case for another rate cut, while resilient hiring would argue for standing pat.
The framework is data-dependent. If employment and wages show broader cooling alongside progress toward price stability, easing becomes more plausible; if labor momentum remains strong and broad-based, a pause would likely be favored.
BLS February jobs metrics that could tilt cut versus pause
Based on data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the key items are headline nonfarm payrolls and any revisions to prior months. The unemployment rate and labor-force participation will clarify slack, while average hourly earnings will indicate wage-pressure trajectories.
Sector breadth also matters: broad-based gains would support a pause, whereas narrower hiring or downward revisions would tilt toward a cut. Cooling earnings growth, especially on a three-month annualized basis, would add to the easing case; re-acceleration would do the opposite.
“It’s a ‘coin flip’ right now,” said Chris Waller, a Federal Reserve governor, as reported by the Associated Press.
As reported by MarketWatch, market pricing currently leans toward no change in March unless the February data show a marked deterioration in labor conditions. Those odds could shift meaningfully on surprises in payrolls, wages, or revisions.
What January signaled and why February is pivotal for policy
January’s employment report surprised to the upside, but questions remained about how broad the strength was beneath the headline. That ambiguity raised the stakes for February as a tiebreaker between a pause and a cut.
If February confirms broad resilience, the policy case for holding in March firms; if it points to softer hiring or downward revisions to January, the case for easing strengthens. Either way, policymakers will weigh the labor read alongside inflation progress before setting the path.
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