Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank President Neel Kashkari said on Tuesday that if the coronavirus threat makes a material impact on the U.S. economy, the Fed may mount a monetary policy response, such as cutting interest rates.
“It is something clearly that is a downside risk for China, and if it were to come to the U.S. in scale, would be a downside risk for our economy,” Kashkari said at a Town Hall streamed live from Kalispell, Montana. “If it really was large enough to hit the U.S. economy, one could imagine monetary policy responding, not to the virus itself but to just to try to help the U.S. economy manage its way through until the public health officials can get their arms around it.”
