Fed's Bostic: Business debt needs watching though not at 'crisis' level

[May 21, 2019]  ATLANTA (Reuters) - High levels of business debt and other financial stability concerns could weigh against consideration of an interest rate cut, Atlanta Fed president Raphael Bostic said on Tuesday.

"It is a risk that is always on the list," Bostic said, though he said he agreed with Fed chairman Jerome Powell that current risks are manageable and not at a "crisis" level. Powell in remarks on Monday said current high level of business debt should cause businesses and investors to "pause and reflect," though he did not think it posed the same sort of systemic risk as the mortgage market did before the 2007 to 2009 financial crisis.

(Reporting by Howard Schneider; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)

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