December interest rate cut depends on inflation, Fed official says

A top Federal Reserve board member said Monday he’s likely to support an interest rate cut when the Fed meets in two weeks, as long as inflation isn't still persistent.

Christopher Waller, a member of the Fed’s Board of Governors, said he was confident the rate of inflation would continue to decrease, according to The Associated Press — but that there was still a chance it might be “stuck above” the Fed’s 2% target, in which case interest rates would remain unchanged.

“At present, I lean toward supporting a cut to the policy rate at our December meeting,” Waller said during a conference. “But that decision will depend on whether data that we will receive before then surprises to the upside and alters my forecast for the path of inflation.”

Inflation, which had cooled from its higher levels in recent years, rose by 2.6% in October, a small jump after the Fed cut interest rates in September, according to CBS News. Despite this, two-thirds of surveyed economists agreed the Fed is still predicted to cut rates for a third time this year.

Other Fed officials haven’t commented on whether they support another rate cut. And with President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed policies of tariffs and mass deportation, both of which economists predict will worsen inflation, some say the Fed may decide on less frequent rate cuts to gauge the policies' effect on the economy.

Waller acknowledged the unpredictability of inflation rates, but promised the Fed would keep it in check.

“I feel like an MMA fighter who keeps getting inflation in a choke hold, waiting for it to tap out, yet it keeps slipping out of my grasp at the last minute,” Waller said. “But let me assure you that submission is inevitable — inflation isn’t getting out of the octagon.”