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."

"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 Federal Open Market Committee will announce its next scheduled decision on interest rates on December 18. A rate cut is likely but far from certain.

Many” senior Federal Reserve officials said a more gradual approach to reducing interest rates was warranted in light of ongoing uncertainty about the U.S. economy and the appropriate level of borrowing costs,

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,