Households and businesses may have to wait longer to see lower borrowing costs, with Federal Reserve officials signaling a less aggressive tone to trimming their benchmark interest rates as Donald Trump prepares to return to the White House.

Fed watchers are reading the tea leaves and starting to believe there is a greater chance the central bank may skip a rate cut at its last meeting of the year in December, after a batch of strong economic data signaled the economy may not need more juice.

After two consecutive rate cuts in recent months and an economy in strong shape, the Fed will take its time deciding whether to continue lowering borrowing costs, Fed Chair Jerome H. Powell said Thursday.

“The economy is not sending any signals that we need to be in a hurry to lower rates,” Powell said, speaking in Dallas. “The strength we are currently seeing in the economy gives us the ability to approach our decisions carefully.”

Separately on Friday, Boston Fed President Susan Collins said it was too soon to say whether the central bank should cut interest rates at its December meeting.

Another cut “is certainly on the table, but it’s not a done deal,” Collins told the Wall Street Journal. “There’s more data that we will see between now and December, and we’ll have to continue to weigh what makes sense.”

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Analysts said the Fed was shifting to a more cautious tone, partly because of Trump’s election win. Trump’s proposals, which include higher tariffs on U.S. trading partners, could add to inflation and make the Fed more reluctant to cut, economists say.

“The looming Trump presidency is helping to drive a change in tone from the Fed – including Powell – towards a warier and more hedged posture on the pace and extent of future cuts,” Evercore ISI strategists wrote Friday. They said the Fed was still committed to its basic strategy of “recalibrating down to a more neutral setting” over time.

The Fed transitioned to rate-cutting mode in September to shore up a weakening labor market. At that meeting, it cut rates by a larger-than-usual half-percentage point. Last week, the Fed again cut rates, this time by a quarter-percentage point, leaving its benchmark rates in a range of 4.5% to 4.75% .

Interest rate cuts trickle through the financial sector to make consumer and business loans cheaper.

The Fed has said it is committed to lowering rates to a point where they neither spur nor restrict growth, though they are in no rush to get to that level. It’s unclear where that point is, but it is almost certainly lower than where rates are now.

Even as the economy continues to grow at a solid pace, Powell said the labor market was “still cooling” amid restrictive monetary policy. “It seems like we’re right where we need to be” for the moment, Powell said in his remarks Thursday.

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In one sign that investors are uncertain the Fed will continue to cut as much as previously expected, major stock indexes fell on Friday after the top officials’ remarks. The Dow Jones Industrial Average declined about 300 points.

Expectations in futures markets for a December cut dropped from about 72% on Thursday to around 60% on Friday, following the official’s remarks and a stronger than expected retail sales report, another sign a strong economy.

Data released earlier in the week showed inflation remained on what Powell described as a “bumpy path.” While inflation is down from the dangerously high levels of a couple of years ago, the consumer price index this week show prices grew at 2.6% for the 12 months ending in October, up from a 2.4% September figure.

The Fed’s next meeting is Dec. 17-18, ahead of which officials will see data on inflation and employment for November.

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