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Divided Fed May Hike Interest Rates If Inflation Persists, Minutes Show
Minutes show some Federal Reserve officials may support rate hikes if inflation remains above the 2% target after nearly five years, despite a recent hold on rates.
- On Wednesday, the Federal Open Market Committee released minutes showing some policymakers backed language signaling possible future rate hikes, while the FOMC voted 10-2 to hold the federal funds rate range 3.5 to 3.75 percent.
- Persistently above-target inflation led officials to press for caution, as November PCE was 2.8% and January overall inflation fell to 2.4%, showing mixed disinflation progress.
- The minutes quoted participants saying `Several participants indicated that they would have supported a two-sided description of the Committee's future interest rate decisions, reflecting the possibility that upward adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate could be appropriate if inflation remains at above-target levels`, and some said holding the policy rate steady while assessing data was appropriate.
- Markets read the minutes as signalling the central bank is unlikely to cut interest rates before late summer, as inflation remains a pressing concern shaping financial markets this year.
- Minutes show the Fed largely insulated from President Donald Trump's pressure, while mixed labor-market data — unemployment rate 4.3% and January jobs +130,000 — complicate the inflation–jobs balance.
31 Articles
31 Articles
Federal Reserve officials were surprisingly cautious about the possibility of cutting interest rates when they met last month, and several even suggested that the central bank might be forced to raise them if inflation remained persistently high.While the minutes of the Central Bank's monetary policy meeting on 27 and 28 January were far from suggesting that most officials were contemplating increases in rates, they made it clear that the Fed wa…
Fed dissent grows as some officials weigh return to interest rate hikes amid stubborn inflation
Federal Reserve policymakers were mostly in agreement on the decision to leave interest rates unchanged despite two calling for cuts, though several signaled that rate hikes could be on deck if inflation remains elevated.The minutes for the January meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), the Fed's monetary policy-setting panel, were released Wednesday and showed that some policymakers were in favor of including language signaling th…
While the market is betting on a cut in interest rates in June, the Fed is divided. Some currency keepers caution and even leave the door open for interest rate hikes.
US indices rebounded, led by the technology sector, while Fed minutes highlighted new uncertainty about interest rates - Nvidia, Amazon and Micron stood out - Fed minutes: Division on interest rates and uncertainty about next moves
Document from the last monetary policy meeting of the US central bank shows policymakers divided.
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