[Economist: The Federal Reserve is very cautious, rate cuts may have to wait until the fourth quarter] Jin10 News, March 19 — Peter Cardillo, Chief Market Economist at Spartan Capital Securities: The Federal Reserve is acting very cautiously. I believe under the current circumstances, we may have to wait until the fourth quarter to consider rate cuts, depending on the trend of energy prices. If energy prices do not decline within a reasonable timeframe and instead remain at current levels, it will mean higher inflation rates. At that point, the economic growth rate may fall below 1%, while inflation rates will rise further, which would essentially result in stagflation.