Fed says it needs clearer labor-market weakness before cutting rates again

Federal Reserve officials said they will likely need to see more notable signs of a labor-market slowdown before lowering interest rates again after a series of reductions last year. Officials and investors will look to December’s jobs report, due Friday, for a clearer read, particularly because a government shutdown last fall left a dearth of data.

In November the unemployment rate rose to 4.6 percent, a four-year high; most economists polled by Bloomberg expected December’s rate to be about 4.5 percent. After the Fed’s December quarter-point cut — the third straight such reduction that set rates at 3.5 to 3.75 percent — Chair Jerome H.

Powell said the central bank was “well positioned to wait to see how the economy evolves.” New presidents from several regional Federal Reserve banks will join the Federal Open Market Committee for its first meeting of the year on Jan. 27-28: Beth M. Hammack of Cleveland, Lorie K.

Logan of Dallas, Neel T. Kashkari of Minneapolis and Anna Paulson of Philadelphia. Ms. Hammack and Ms. Logan have indicated they did not support all of last year’s rate cuts; Mr. Kashkari recently said the Fed was close to the point where it did not need to cut further, and Ms. Paulson, while expressing concern about the labor market, has said the Fed did not need to hurry.

Key Topics

Business, Federal Reserve, Jerome Powell, Unemployment Rate, Beth M. Hammack, Lorie K. Logan