Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari: We're pretty close to neutral right now

Summary

Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari told CNBC's Squawk Box that the labor market is clearly cooling while inflation remains too high, leaving the Fed close to a neutral policy stance. He said the Fed should stay data-dependent, with labor market weakness possibly the bigger near-term risk and tariff-related inflation a persistence risk to watch. Kashkari also discussed expectations for resilient growth, slowly declining inflation, low hiring and low firing, AI's impact on hiring, and Fed independence under Chair Powell.

• Kashkari says the labor market is clearly cooling and unemployment has risen to about 4.6%.
• He says inflation remains too high and recent data are distorted by collection and shutdown issues.
• He sees tariff effects as a persistence risk, with possible January goods repricing.
• He expects housing services inflation to fall and overall inflation to trend slowly lower.
• He expects resilient growth with low hiring, low firing, and AI affecting hiring plans.
• He says policy is close to neutral and the Fed should remain data-dependent.
• He expresses support for Powell and says he is not concerned about Fed bank president firings.