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Bescent: It's not urging the Fed to cut interest rates, but rather citing model results.
Jin10 data, August 14th - U.S. Treasury Secretary Basent stated that he is not asking the Fed to carry out a series of rate cuts, but merely pointed out that models indicate the "neutral" interest rate will be about 1.5 percentage points lower than it is now. Basent said, "I did not tell the Fed what to do." He was referring to comments made the day before about the Fed "being able to start a series of rate cuts." Basent stated on Thursday, "What I am saying is that reaching the neutral rate would require roughly a cut of 150 basis points. If one believes in the existence of a neutral rate, I think there is room for a series of rate cuts, but I am not calling for rate cuts, nor have I done so. I am just saying that the neutral rate estimated by models is about 150 basis points lower than the current level."