Golden Finance reported that Nick Timiraos, the "Fed's mouthpiece", wrote that at the meeting earlier this month, Fed members discussed the possibility of slowing or suspending interest rate cuts if progress in lowering inflation stalled. Officials believed that "gradual movement toward more neutral interest rate settings may be appropriate" if the economy performs in line with their expectations that inflation will continue to decline steadily, according to minutes of the Fed meeting released on Tuesday. Minutes of the meeting showed that all 19 officials participating in the discussion agreed to cut the Fed's benchmark short-term interest rate by 25 percentage points. Some policymakers believe the risk of a more pronounced slowdown in the job market or economy has receded since the September meeting. Many of them also said there was greater uncertainty about where interest rates should be set in an economy that needs neither stimulus nor monetary constraints. These considerations "make it appropriate to gradually reduce policy constraints," the minutes said.