Jefferies chief market strategist David Zervos, now on an expanded shortlist to succeed Jerome Powell as Federal Reserve chair, told CNBC the central bank should slash its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points at its next meeting. He argued that July’s stronger-than-expected producer-price data should not deter policymakers because overall monetary conditions are already excessively tight. Zervos said an aggressive move could avert a labour-market slowdown and potentially create up to one million additional jobs, adding that he could ultimately support as much as 200 basis points of easing if disinflationary forces linked to technology continue to build. Economist Marc Sumerlin, a former adviser in the George W. Bush administration and also viewed as a contender for the Fed’s top post, separately called the current 4.33 percent federal-funds rate “too high” given the inversion of the Treasury yield curve. Sumerlin likewise endorsed a half-percentage-point cut next month but cautioned that the central bank would need to pause if longer-term yields began to rise. The public support for sizable near-term easing by two prospective Fed chiefs underscores the policy debate over whether the central bank should move quickly to counter tightening financial conditions despite still-elevated inflation readings.