ATLANTA—Federal Reserve officials on Friday laid the groundwork to take a break from raising short-term interest rates in coming months, propelling stock prices already cheered by a stronger-than-expected December jobs report.

Fed Chairman Jerome Powell said mild inflation would give the central bank greater flexibility to set policy in the year ahead and that the Fed, which raised rates once every quarter last year, wasn’t on a “pre-set” path to push its benchmark rate higher.

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