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Federal Reserve officials appear on track to cut interest rates this month after data showed the U.S. labor market remained strong but continued to cool in November, even as debate emerged over a possible pause to rate cuts in the new year. U.S. employers added 227,000 jobs last month, a rebound from a hurricane-impacted slowdown in October, but the unemployment rate ticked up to 4.2%, the Labor Department's monthly employment report showed on Friday. Over the last half-year average monthly job gains are below 150,000, short of what some policymakers feel is needed to provide enough work to match a growing population, but nothing like the collapse Fed policymakers worried could happen when they began cutting interest rates a few months ago.

Chicago Federal Reserve president Austan Goolsbee said that economic conditions will determine how fast the Federal Reserve cuts rates from here, but added he hopes the Fed will be homing in on a stopping point by the end of next year. "I'm hopeful that conditions continue to evolve such that we can get in close to the range" where monetary policy is having a neutral impact on the economy, Goolsbee said in comments to reporters. While he would not specify his estimate of neutral, he said that a level around 3%, well below the current 4.5% to 4.75% rate and roughly the median that Fed officials projected as a stopping point at their September meeting, "doesn't seem crazy to me."

In her first major policy speech, Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland President Beth Hammack said on Friday she’s keeping her options open when it comes to the central bank’s next policy meeting, as broader economic conditions continue to argue for a slowdown in the pace of rate cuts. “I believe we are at or near the point where it makes sense to slow the pace of rate reductions,” Hammack said in the text of a speech prepared for delivery before The City Club of Cleveland. As for what will happen at the Federal Open Market Committee meeting scheduled for Dec. 17-18, Hammack said that more data is coming between now and then, noting she “will maintain an open mind” about how to set the federal funds rate, which is currently set between 4.5% and 4.75%.

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Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman said on Friday that inflation risks to the economy remain real and labor market data hard to interpret, and that augurs caution with further decisions on central bank rate cuts. “I continue to see greater risks to the price stability side of our mandate, especially when the labor market continues to be near full employment,” Bowman said at an appearance before the Missouri Bankers Association Executive Management Conference. Bowman, whose comments centered mainly on banking issues, spoke after the releases of data detailing the performance of the job market during November.

(Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman reiterated that she prefers to lower interest rates cautiously, emphasizing underlying inflation remains “uncomfortably” above the central bank’s 2% goal. Most Read from BloombergNYC’s Run-Down Bus Terminal Gets Approval for $10 Billion RevampKansas City Looks Back on its Long, Costly Ride With MicrotransitAs Wars Rage, Cities Face a Dark New Era of Urban DestructionBowman said upside risks to price growth remain “prominent.” She noted prog