Fed's Poole-Fed can ease without risking inflation

ST. LOUIS, Jan 9 (Reuters) - St. Louis Federal Reserve President William Poole said on Wednesday that well-anchored inflation expectations give the U.S. central bank scope to make large interest rate cuts without risking inflation.

"Stable inflation expectations give the Federal Reserve a lot of room for maneuver," he told reporters after delivering a speech here.

"If the evidence suggests that substantial policy easing is appropriate, I don't think we're going to face a risk of adverse inflation expectation consequences," he said.

However, Poole emphasized that the odds of a U.S. recession "are certainly high enough to worry about, but I don't believe inflation risks are absent either."

(Reporting by Alister Bull, Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)