Reuters

With Fed likely done hiking rates, Waller flags pivot ahead

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Federal Reserve policymakers look increasingly comfortable closing out the year with U.S. interest rates on hold and the clock ticking on how soon to deliver a first rate cut as they try to engineer a “soft landing” for the economy. “Inflation rates are moving along pretty much like I thought,” Fed Governor Christopher Waller, a hawkish and influential voice at the central bank, told the American Enterprise Institute think tank on Tuesday. “I am increasingly confident that policy is currently well positioned to slow the economy and get inflation back to 2%,” he said, and also “reasonably confident” of doing so without a sharp rise in the unemployment rate, now at 3.9%.