Howard Schneider

The Federal Reserve should "proceed slowly" in approving further interest rate cuts as monetary policy moves closer to a neutral stance, Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson said on Friday.

Federal Reserve officials on Monday continued pressing competing views of where the economy stands and the risks facing it, a debate set to intensify ahead of the U.S. central bank's next policy meeting and in the absence of data suspended due to the federal government shutdown.

The U.S. consumer's durability as a prop for the economy may be tested in coming weeks as family budgets, particularly among the less affluent, are stressed by rising healthcare costs, the potential loss of federal food benefits, and a wobbly job market outlook that is already taking a toll on earnings.

U.S. Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook said on Monday she considers December's Fed meeting "live" for a potential rate cut but that she will make her decision based on information from a broad variety of sources between now and then, potentially in the absence of government data delayed by the federal shutdown.

The Federal Reserve is expected to cut interest rates by a quarter of a percentage point on Wednesday as policymakers steer the U.S. economy based on limited data that has nevertheless kept concerns about the strength of the job market top of mind.

The Federal Reserve will go into a policy meeting next week with its view of the economy obscured by a U.S. government shutdown that has suspended the release of key data, a less-than-ideal situation for policymakers divided over which risks deserve the most attention.

Renewed U.S.-China trade tensions pose a "material" downside risk to the economic outlook, making it more important that the U.S. central bank cut its benchmark interest rate, Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran said on Wednesday.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell will deliver his last scheduled remarks before the Fed's next meeting with the economy enjoying stronger-than-expected growth and a recent jump in productivity.

The U.S. labor market remained mired in its low-hiring, low-firing doldrums through September, though the economy "may be on a somewhat firmer trajectory than expected," Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Tuesday, noting that policymakers will take a "meeting-by-meeting" approach to interest rate cuts as they balance job market weakness with above-target inflation.

Surging business investment is expected to offset weaker growth in consumption and global trade and keep the U.S. economy growing near trend, according to a National Association for Business Economics survey, though slow job growth, higher unemployment and stickier inflation will mar the outlook.

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said on Friday that private data shows the job market remains weak and buttresses the case for further interest rate cuts, but added the U.S. central bank need only move in "cautious" quarter-percentage-point steps as it evaluates the economy.

Federal Reserve officials agreed at their recent policy meeting that risks to the U.S. job market had increased enough to warrant an interest rate cut, but remained wary of high inflation amid a debate about how much borrowing costs were weighing on the economy, minutes of the September 16-17 session showed on Wednesday.

With U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics employees furloughed due to the federal government shutdown, the agency's website shows a release from Wednesday as its most recent data update instead of the monthly employment report for September that had been scheduled for Friday.

U.S. Federal Reserve Vice Chair Philip Jefferson reiterated on Friday that the U.S. job market could face stress if it is not supported by monetary policy.

The U.S. labor market likely needs to weaken further for the Federal Reserve to achieve its 2% inflation target, as prices are rising even faster without factoring in the impact of new import tariffs, Dallas Fed President Lorie Logan said on Tuesday.

U.S. Federal Reserve Vice Chair Philip Jefferson said on Monday he expects U.S. economic growth to continue at about a 1.5% pace for the rest of the year, with the job market facing potential stress if not supported by the central bank.

New Federal Reserve Governor Stephen Miran's call for big interest rate cuts is based on faith that President Donald Trump's economic plans will quickly lower the rate of interest that would prevail in a healthy economy, something policymakers see as hard to estimate under the best conditions.

The massive tariffs proposed by President Donald Trump on "Liberation Day" in April put the U.S. dollar's role as the world's anchor currency at risk, while the administration's eventual climbdown to more modest rates has likely left it secure, new economic research has concluded.

U.S. corporate finance chiefs say the confusion around trade policy that put a damper on the first half of the year has begun to lift, but that price increases are still in the pipeline and may accelerate next year, according to the latest Fed survey of chief financial officers.

U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Tuesday the central bank needed to continue balancing the competing risks of high inflation and a weakening job market in coming interest rate decisions, even as his colleagues staked out arguments on both sides of the policy divide.