‘They can’t get it wrong again’: Economists are increasingly uncertain about Fed rate cuts this year

The U.S. Federal Reserve is determined not to reduce interest rates too soon — and some economists say recent data has pushed a summer cut completely off the table.

Friday’s jobs report reiterated the seemingly unwavering strength of the U.S. labor market and suggested further need for Fed caution. All eyes will now be on Wednesday’s consumer price index, after February’s annual inflation rate of 3.2% came in slightly higher than expected.

It comes as a growing number of market participants have raised the possibility of no rate cuts at all this year, including Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari who said last week that no reductions were a possible scenario if inflation continued to move sideways.

George Lagarias, chief economist at Mazars, told CNBC on Monday that rate cuts in the summer were now looking much less likely.