Markets widely expect the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates for the fourth time this year at its December meeting. The question is what the central bank will do next year. Recent sticky inflation prints and evidence the US economy is growing at a solid pace have raised doubts that the Fed will bring down rates as quickly as it previously

Federal Reserve officials expressed confidence that inflation is easing and the labor market is strong, allowing for further interest rate cuts albeit at a gradual pace, according to minutes from the November meeting released Tuesday.

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."