Report says Fed rate pause 'not ruled out'

Federal Reserve officials say they are watching to see how financial markets and the economy react to the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina before deciding on what action to take at their policy-setting meeting on Sept. 20, the Wall Street Journal reported.

"Fed officials have not ruled out a pause," Greg Ip, the newspaper's Fed correspondent, wrote in an article published on the paper's Web site on Wednesday.

Ip is widely seen in financial markets as sometimes reflecting the Federal