![]() ![]() Xinhua News Agency via Getty Imaįor the Fed to scale back its rate hikes, inflation reports due to be released before the next meeting would likely need to confirm that the pace of price increases was declining.ĭata since the Fed’s July policy meeting showed annual consumer inflation eased that month to 8.5% from 9.1% in June, a fact that would argue for the smaller 50-basis-point rate increase next month.īut other data released on Wednesday showed why that remains an open question.Ĭore US retail sales, which correspond most closely with the consumer spending component of gross domestic product, were stronger than expected in July. Powell’s central bank is widely expected to hike rates next month by either 50 or 75 basis points. The Fed has lifted its benchmark overnight interest rate by 225 points this year to a target range of 2.25% to 2.50%. The central bank is widely expected to hike rates next month by either 50 or 75 basis points. In a glimpse of the emerging debate at the central bank, “many” participants also noted a risk that the Fed “could tighten the stance of policy by more than necessary to restore price stability,” a fact that they said made sensitivity to incoming data all the more important.Īfter the release of the minutes, traders of futures tied to the Fed’s policy rate saw a half-percentage-point rate hike as more likely in September, with fed funds futures prices reflecting just a 40% chance of a 75-basis-point increase. Some participants said they felt rates would have to reach a “sufficiently restrictive level” and remain there for “some time” in order to control inflation, which is running at a four-decade high. The pace of future hikes would depend, the minutes said, on incoming economic data, as well as Fed assessments of how the economy was adapting to the higher rates already approved. ![]() Home prices slashed at record pace as mortgage rates surge: data US recession forecast hits 100% as inflation rages, midterm elections loom Jobless claims dropped unexpectedly in still-tight labor market Inflation costing Americans $445 more in expenses per month: analysis “Participants emphasized that a slowing in aggregate demand would play an important role in reducing inflation pressures,” the minutes said. Though some inflation reduction might come through improving global supply chains or drops in the prices of fuel and other commodities, some of the heavy lifting would also have to come by imposing higher borrowing costs on households and businesses. “Participants agreed that there was little evidence to date that inflation pressures were subsiding,” the minutes said. On the metric that mattered most, however, Fed officials at least as of late July had registered little progress. Bloomberg via Getty Images The pace of future hikes would depend, the minutes said, on incoming economic data. The Fed hiked interest rates by another 0.75% last month. 20-21 meeting, the minutes released on Wednesday showed policymakers committed to raising rates as high as necessary to bring inflation under control, and acknowledging that they would have to engineer less spending and lower overall growth for that to happen.Īs of the July meeting, Fed officials noted that while some parts of the economy, notably housing, had begun to slow under the weight of tighter credit conditions, the labor market remained strong and unemployment was at a near-record low. While not explicitly hinting at a particular pace of coming rate increases, beginning with the Sept. Federal Reserve officials saw “little evidence” late last month that US inflation pressures were easing, and steeled themselves to force the economy to slow down as much as needed to control the surge in prices, according to the minutes of their July 26-27 policy meeting. ![]()
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