Fed’s Kashkari: Interest-rate cut in December is ‘reasonable’

(Reuters) – Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis President Neel Kashkari, typically on the hawkish end of the U.S. central bank’s policy spectrum, said on Monday he is open to cutting interest rates again next month.

“It’s still a reasonable consideration,” Kashkari said in a Bloomberg TV interview. “Right now, knowing what I know today, still considering a 25-basis-point cut in December – it’s a reasonable debate for us to have.”

The Fed began cutting interest rates in September after gaining confidence that inflation would continue to fall, and in response to worries that high borrowing costs were slowing the job market too quickly.

Since then inflation’s progress toward the Fed’s 2% goal appears to have slowed. After cutting rates again early this month Fed policymakers have openly puzzled over how much lower they should take the policy rate, now in the 4.75%-5.00% range.

Kashkari told Bloomberg that he is trying to understand how much downward pressure borrowing costs are having on the economy, and where inflation is going.

“I have some confidence that it’s gently trending down, and right now the labor market remains strong,” Kashkari said.

Fed policymakers will get a fresh report on its targeted inflation gauge this Wednesday, and will have the latest monthly job-market readout and a report on consumer prices in hand before their next meeting, on Dec. 17-18.