U.S. Federal Reserve officials are weighing further interest rate cuts, even if Congress approves a $700 billion financial industry bailout, because of a worsening economic outlook, the Wall Street Journal said on Thursday.

A rate cut is still far from certain, partly because of inflation worries, the WSJ said in an unsourced report on its website.

"The Fed's willingness to consider additional rate cuts marks a turnaround from the past few months, when soaring food and energy prices turned its attention to inflation risks," the Wall Street Journal said.

Currency traders in Tokyo said that while there was some chatter about the article among market players, the impact on the dollar seemed to be limited.

The dollar index, which measures the dollar's value against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.6 percent on the day to 80.162.

Even before the article, investors were bracing for the Fed to lower interest rates as early as this month.

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