Who Won the U.S. Presidential Debate?

Mary Daly, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, during the National Association of Business Economics (NABE) economic policy conference in Washington, DC, US, on Friday, Feb. 16, 2024.

San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly on Monday said she expects that interest rates will be cut later this year but declined to provide a timetable or the extent to which the central bank will ease.

With markets expecting aggressive reductions starting in September, Daly said progress on inflation and a clear slowdown in hiring likely will drive the Fed to some extent of policy easing.

"Policy adjustments will be necessary in the coming quarter. How much that needs to be done and when it needs to take place, I think that's going to depend a lot on the incoming information," she said during a forum in Hawaii. "But from my mind, we've now confirmed that the labor market is slowing and it's extremely important that we not let it slow so much that it turns itself into a downturn."

The remarks come the same day Wall Street suffered its worst drawdown in nearly two years as investors wrestled with fears over slowing growth and the Fed's response. At their meeting last week, Fed officials provided some hints that lower rates are coming but were short on specifics.

In the following two days, consecutive weak reports on layoffs, manufacturing and job creation generated a scare that the Fed is moving too slowly.

• Read More