Powell signaled the Fed could lower rates in a speech at the central bank’s annual Jackson Hole conference in August. After detailing the conflicting developments on each side of the Fed’s dual mandate, Powell said that “the baseline outlook and the shifting balance of risks may warrant adjusting our policy stance.”

Federal Reserve officials are expected to lower interest rates to backstop a faltering US labor market, marking a shift after worries about tariff-induced inflation kept them on hold all year.

“Job gains have slowed," Fed officials said in their statement released Wednesday, "and the unemployment rate has edged up" but remains "low."