WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A united U.S. Federal Reserve agreed to hold interest rates steady at the June meeting as a way to buy time and assess whether further rate hikes would be needed, even as the vast bulk expected they would eventually need to tighten policy further, according to meeting minutes released on Wednesday.
While “some participants” wanted to move ahead with a rate hike in June because progress in cooling inflation had been slow, “almost all participants judged it appropriate or acceptable to maintain” the federal funds rate at the existing 5% to 5.25%, the minutes said.
“Most of those participants observed that leaving the target range unchanged at this meeting would allow them more time to assess the economy’s progress,” toward returning inflation to 2% from its current level more than twice that.
The minutes added detail to the policy statement and economic projections issued after the June 13-14 session, when the Fed ended its 10-meeting streak of rate hikes with a decision to hold the benchmark federal funds rate steady.
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Source: www.reuters.com
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