Seeking Alpha’s roundup of statements, announcements and remarks that could impact markets, sectors or individual stocks.
- Federal Reserve Gov. Christopher Waller said he believes the Fed should start lowering interest rates in two weeks.
“I think we need to start cutting rates at the next meeting,” Waller told CNBC on Wednesday. “We don’t have to go into a lock sequence of steps. We can kind of see where things are going because people are still worried about tariff inflation. I’m not, but everybody else is.”
Waller is reportedly a leading candidate to be nominated to take over as Fed chairman when Jerome Powell’s term ends next spring.
- Meanwhile, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic said he thinks it’s appropriate for the Fed to implement a quarter-point rate cut this year.
“I believe that, while price stability remains the primary concern, the labor market is slowing enough that some easing in policy—probably on the order of 25 basis points—will be appropriate over the remainder of this year,” Bostic said in his quarterly message, published on Wednesday.
“That could change, depending on the trajectory of inflation and the evolution of employment markets in the coming months. I am and remain, after all, data dependent,” he added.
- Despite ongoing trade tensions between Canada and the U.S., WestJet said it plans to buy 67 Boeing (NYSE:BA) planes, with an option to purchase several more.
Under the deal, Canada’s WestJet plans to purchase 60 737-10 jets, with options to buy 25 more. In addition, it plans to buy seven 787-9 jets, with options to purchase four more, according to a statement.
“With the addition of these aircraft, WestJet has the largest order book of any airline in Canada, and will double our fleet of Dreamliners,” WestJet CEO Alexis von Hoensbroech said in the statement. “These highly efficient and comfortable aircraft are critical to the growth and renewal of our fleet and will also significantly improve our fuel consumption.”
Boeing said the deal brings WestJet’s 737-10 orderbook to 107 airplanes.