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Federal Reserve members were divided on how much further to lower interest rates during the central bank’s meeting last month, according to minutes released Wednesday (The Wall Street Journal, subscription).

What’s going on: At the Sept. 16–17 gathering, the 19 participating “[o]fficials largely agreed that a recent slowdown in job growth outweighed lingering concerns over sticky inflation when they cut their benchmark rate by a quarter-point last month, to a range between 4% and 4.25%.”

• While they also agreed for the most part that “it would likely be appropriate to ease policy further over the remainder of the year,” according to a written account, some of them thought either that a September rate cut was unnecessary or that rates could have held steady.

Half-point cut: Only one official, Fed Governor Stephen Miran, supported a larger, half-point cut.

However … “a substantial minority of seven officials penciled in no further reductions this year, highlighting a thorny consensus-building exercise facing Fed Chair Jerome Powell.”

Inflation: Some officials at last month’s meeting said borrowing conditions could mean that “monetary policy may not be particularly restrictive, which they judged as warranting a cautious approach” when weighing further cuts.

• Others have said that keeping rates where they are could lead to labor market weakness.
• Powell has attempted to take the middle road on rate cuts, saying last month, “Two-sided risks mean that there is no risk-free path.”