By Howard Schneider WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said on Monday he was inclined toward a cut in the benchmark interest rate at the central bank's Dec. 17-18 meeting as policy remained restrictive enough to keep putting downward pressure on inflation,

Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said Monday he is anticipating an interest rate cut in December but is concerned about recent trends on inflation that could change his mind.

Federal Reserve governor Christopher Waller said he was leaning toward favoring a cut in interest rates at the central bank’s meeting later this month, though he also said he could be open to arguments for holding rates steady.

A favorable consensus developed during the week of how the Fed's current series of rate hikes would extend into 2025. Click to read.

Consumer inflation accelerated in October 2024. However, the odds of a Federal Reserve interest rate cut on December 18 are still high.

"Unemployment is going to come down, growth is going to come up, inflation is going to come up," Deutsche Bank's chief US economist said.

The account of the central bank’s Nov. 6-7 meeting, released on Tuesday, showed that Fed officials still planned to cut interest rates further. But with the job market holding up better than expected and the economy growing at a solid clip, they are in no rush to slash them rapidly.

Powell just a week after the meeting said the economy was "not sending any signals that we need to be in a hurry to lower rates."

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.

Inflation rose above the European Central Bank’s target in the eurozone this month, though likely not enough to deter policymakers from cutting interest rates for a third straight meeting next month.