Fed Vice Chair Says Economic Trade-Offs Justify Lowering Rates Slowly

Federal Reserve officials face a challenge resolving differences over how to set interest rates with little new economic data to guide tricky judgment calls.

Fed Vice Chair Philip Jefferson offered a case study in the central bank’s predicament on Monday, acknowledging the risk of stubborn inflation and weaker employment conditions—dueling threats that call for opposing prescriptions.

“The evolving balance of risks underscores the need to proceed slowly” with rate cuts, Jefferson said during a talk at the Kansas City Fed.

Beyond that observation, Jefferson’s comments did little to build the case either for a long timeout on rate cuts or for a rate cut at next month’s meeting—a decision that is shaping up to be unusually contentious.