Federal Reserve officials discussed potentially slowing down or pausing interest-rate cuts if progress on lowering inflation stalled out when they met earlier this month. Officials thought that if the economy performed in line with their expectations that inflation would continue to decline steadily,

Many” senior Federal Reserve officials said uncertainty about the so-called neutral level of interest rates support a more gradual approach in reducing U.S. borrowing costs, new documents show.

Federal Reserve officials say they are likely to keep reducing interest rates for now, and investors still expect them to do so at the U.S. central bank's Dec. 17-18 meeting. But how far they will go beyond that remains a wide-open question,

The Fed has lowered interest rates by a total of 75 basis points over its last two meetings, but further rate cuts may be sparse.

Federal Reserve officials were still confident at their November meeting that inflation was heading toward their 2% annual target, according to minutes published on Tuesday, while noting that they could support the labor market with further interest-rate decreases.