Fed's Waller 'more comfortable' with 50bp December rate hike, but watching data

A governor of the US central bank said he was now "more comfortable" with the notion of shifting to a slower pace interest rate hikes next month.

nonetheless add that incoming data until the 13-14 December Fed meeting would shape his final decision.

Waller also welcomed the weaker-than-expected October consumer price data, but argued against placing too much weight on any single report.

"I expect that getting inflation to fall meaningfully and persistently toward our 2% target will require increases in the federal funds rate into next year," he added.

"We still have a ways to go."

For after December's policy meeting, the policymaker said that, depending on the data, either a further downshift to a 25bp pace of hikes or climbing "a little longer" via a sequence of 50bp hikes could be justified.