A Federal Reserve official stated that he believes the decision to cut interest rates last month was a "close call" because the current economic outlook seems different from when the Fed began lowering rates four months ago. St. Louis Fed President Bullard said that by the time of last month's meeting, the risks of inflation hovering between 2.5% and 3% had increased. Therefore, he believes that further rate cuts should be approached with more caution. Bullard had previously hinted that he supported the Fed's decision to cut rates by 50 basis points in September. "Things have changed since last September," he said in an interview on Thursday, "economic data is much stronger, and inflation numbers are also higher than expected. So I've changed my assessment of the risks," stating that future rate cuts "must be gradual and more gradual than I envisioned in September." Bullard indicated that the labor market is in good shape and requires close monitoring, but there are still "inflation issues" within the Fed's mandate. Because his estimate of the neutral rate is slightly higher than most of his colleagues, the currently set rate may be slightly below what is appropriate. (Jin Shi)