WASHINGTON (AP) — A voting member of the Federal Reserve is cautioning that the Fed has yet to decide when to raise interest rates even though it issued a statement this week that said a rate hike was possible in December.

John Williams, president of the Fed's San Francisco regional bank, says he wants to study more economic data in coming weeks before deciding whether the economy is strong enough for the Fed to raise its key short-term rate from a record low, where it's been for seven years.

Williams says in an interview with The Associated Press that the Fed chose to mention in its policy statement this week that it could decide on a rate hike at its next meeting to avoid surprising investors in case it did raise rates then.