U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he isn’t calling for a series of interest-rate cuts from the Federal Reserve, just pointing out that models suggest a “neutral” rate would be about 1.5 percentage points lower.

The likelihood of a Federal Reserve rate cut in September is now seen near 100% after new data showed U.S. inflation increased at a moderate pace in July and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he thought an aggressive half-point cut was possible given recent weak employment numbers.

The current Federal Reserve interest rate is significantly higher than necessary and should be lowered, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday.