The minutes of the FED’s June Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting were just released Wednesday evening.
Here are important excerpts from the meeting minutes:
- The FED is waiting for ‘additional information’ to gain confidence about interest rate cuts.
- FED: Many workers say unemployment may increase if demand weakens.
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FED Chairman Powell reiterated yesterday that the FED needed more data before truly easing monetary policy.
Powell’s comments come as prices fell from 2.8% in April to 2.6% in May, the lowest in more than three years, according to the latest data from the personal consumption expenditures index, the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, calculated by excluding volatile food and energy prices. It came just days after it posted its slow annual gain.
Inflation, which showed signs of stalling in the first quarter, slowed down and this caused FED officials to consider keeping interest rates high for a longer time.
Powell said he wants to understand whether the levels the Fed is seeing in inflation are a true assessment of underlying inflation, and reiterated that the Fed can afford to be patient given a strong job market that is slowly cooling.
Still, these comments pleased investors who expected a rate cut later this year, and investors priced the probability of the first rate cut in September at around 60%.
*This is not investment advice.
