A top Federal Reserve official has called for a December interest rate cut, highlighting divisions among policymakers over whether to prioritise fighting inflation over supporting a weakening jobs market.
Christopher Waller, a Fed governor who has emerged as the leading internal candidate to replace Jay Powell as chair, said on Monday in London that his “reading of the data” led him to “support a cut” at the US central bank’s December 10 vote “as a matter of risk management”.
The Fed has cut borrowing costs by a quarter point at its previous two policy votes, amid signs that the US jobs market had weakened over the course of the summer.