The Federal Reserve bank of New York was forced to play down remarks made by its president John Williams after he stoked expectations of an aggressive policy rate cut in a speech.

Williams laid out a case for lowering policy rates sooner and stronger in a low interest rate environment.

“When you only have so much stimulus at your disposal, it pays to act quickly to lower rates at the first sign of economic distress,” he said in the July 18 speech.

The remarks boosted market expectations that