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A top Federal Reserve official said Monday that he is leaning toward supporting an interest rate cut when the Fed meets in two weeks but that evidence of persistent inflation before then could cause him to change that view. Speaking at George Washington University, Christopher Waller, a key member of the Fed's Board of Governors, said he was confident that inflation is headed lower and that the central bank will likely keep reducing its key rate, which affects many consumer and business loans. “At present, I lean toward supporting a cut to the policy rate at our December meeting," Waller said in his remarks to a conference held by the American Institute for Economic Research.

MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia's sanctions-hit, militarized economy is expected to slow next year and banks' profits will fall, while the benchmark interest rate may climb to 23% by the end of this year, Andrei Kostin, CEO of Russia's second-largest lender, VTB, said. Kostin predicted that GDP growth will slow to 1.9% in 2025, above the International Monetary Fund's forecast of 1.3%. Kostin cautiously criticized the central bank's hawkish monetary stance, saying the current inflation rate did not require a benchmark interest rate "three times this level".

“If you look at this list of policies and others, all of them have the impact that over time inflation will be higher, growth is going to be lower,” Roubini—a.k.a. Dr. Doom—said this week.

(Bloomberg) -- Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta President Raphael Bostic said he’s undecided on whether an interest-rate cut is needed this month, but still believes officials should continue lowering rates over the coming months.Most Read from BloombergRiyadh Metro Partially Opens in Bid to Ease City’s Traffic JamsAs Wars Rage, Cities Face a Dark New Era of Urban Destruction“The risks to achieving the committee’s dual mandates of maximum employment and price stability have shifted such that they

Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic said on Monday he has an open mind about whether to cut interest rates again at the Fed's December meeting, with upcoming data on jobs important in shaping the decision. "There is a lot of uncertainty," Bostic said in comments to reporters. In an essay also released on Monday, Bostic said his base case remains that inflation will continue to fall to the Fed's 2% target, though it remains an open question how far and how fast interest rates should be reduced to ensure that happens while avoiding any undue damage to the job market.

Donald Trump has promised to "drill, baby, drill" to halve energy costs, a plan that sends shivers through the governments of emerging market oil producers anxious about dollar earnings and fills poorer importing countries with hope. In practical terms, Trump, the incoming president of the world's biggest oil producer, cannot fully control prices. The United States has limited influence over producer group OPEC+, the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies, and it does not have a state oil company Trump can order to increase output.

For much of the past 17 years the Federal Reserve has been the central player in U.S. economic policy, throwing multi-trillion-dollar safety nets under the financial system, offering nearly a decade of ultra-cheap money, jumping redlines during the COVID-19 pandemic, and delving more into areas like equity and climate change. But that expansive role has now shrunk to one of terse policy statements, a meat-and-potatoes debate over interest rates, a declining stash of bonds, and a growing possibility that Fed Chair Jerome Powell may be remembered both as the man who got the U.S. through the economic crisis triggered by the pandemic and the one who made central banking boring again. Former St. Louis Fed President James Bullard was on the policymaking team that saw the central bank's role expand during the 2007-2009 financial crisis, watched as it mushroomed again during the pandemic and sees it now morphing back into something more normal.