Scott Horsley

The Fed has cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point at each of its last two meetings, and investors expect another quarter point cut today as the central bank tries to prop up a sagging job market.

Not everyone on the rate-setting committee agrees, however, that another reduction is warranted.

Hawkish committee members are more concerned about stubbornly high inflation and may vote to hold interest rates steady.

The Fed is working with less information than usual since the six-week government shutdown prevented federal workers from collecting data on inflation and unemployment in October.

November's numbers have also been delayed until next week.

Too late to guide Fed policymakers in their decision today.

Scott Horsley in Pear News, Washington.

Good morning.

We have seen a real slowdown in the job market in recent months, and a number of Fed policymakers are very concerned about that.

Over the summer, we saw a net loss of jobs in both June and August.

The unemployment rate has been inching up.

Fed Governor Chris Waller has been saying for months now the warning signs are flashing on the job market, and the central bank should lower interest rates to prevent a further deterioration.

The Fed already cut its benchmark interest rate in September and October, and a third cut would make it a little bit cheaper to borrow money so consumers might spend a bit more and businesses, in turn, might need to hire more people.

It's not because we've still got the specter of inflation out there.

That's the other part of the Fed's job.

And some policymakers think getting prices under control is a bigger concern right now than the softening job market.

Prices are still climbing faster than the Fed would like.

Just yesterday, we got some survey data showing that a lot of small businesses are raising prices.

There's concern that the president's tariffs will continue to push prices up in the new year.

Susan Collins, who heads the Boston Federal Reserve Bank, voted for rate cuts in both September and October, but she says the bar is pretty high before she would vote for a third cut this week.