By Howard Schneider

WASHINGTON, Dec 8 (Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Reserve’s meeting this week will begin to set expectations for President Donald Trump’s upcoming nominee to lead the central bank, potentially leaving policymakers in a bind between inflation concerns shared broadly and Trump’s demands for interest rate cuts.

A quarter-percentage-point rate cut seems a given at the two-day meeting that ends on Wednesday, but language around that decision and accompanying economic projections will show whether the next chair will take over a body primed against further cuts or more open to argument and with a more dovish near-term outlook.

Trump wants lower borrowing costs in particular to boost the housing sector as a way to address broader concerns about affordability that could be cent

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