Jan 26 (Reuters) – Federal Reserve policymakers have signaled they won’t cut U.S. interest rates just yet; most economists think they will wait until June, given ongoing strength in household spending and uncertainty over the economic outlook.
But U.S. central bankers, who have kept the Fed’s benchmark overnight interest rate in the 5.25%-5.50% range since last July, have already begun the pivot to easier policy.
Price pressures clearly are cooling. The Fed’s preferred measure of inflation – the personal consumption expenditures price index – increased 2.6% in December from a year earlier, the