Fed's Daly says Fed cut rates to support labor market

Federal Reserve (Fed) Bank of San Francisco President Mary C. Daly noted late on Friday that the Fed's move to cut rates was to try and bolster a weakening labor market, noting a pointed softening of the US economy over the past year.

The comments come at a time when the Fed is facing not only additional scrutiny from the rate-cut-hungry Trump administration, but also questioning looks from markets about the Fed's political independence. Stephen Miran was confirmed by US Congress for his seat at the Fed's voting table just this week and sworn in an hour before the Fed's latest rate-setting meeting.

Key highlights

The job market has softened quite a bit over the last year.
Part of job-market slowing is about US economic outlook.
It's very challenging to know how much jobs slowing is from AI.
The Fed did a rate cut to try to support the labor market.