Federal Reserve officials at their most recent meeting indicated that there are signs inflation is coming down, but not enough to counter the need for more interest rate increases, meeting minutes released Wednesday showed. While the Jan. 31-Feb. 1 meeting concluded with a smaller rate hike than most of those implemented since early 2022, officials stressed that their concern over inflation is high. Inflation “remained well above” the Fed’s 2% target, the minutes stated. That came with labor markets that “remained very tight, contributing to continuing upward pressures on wages and prices.” Consequently, the Fed approved a 0.25 percentage point rate increase that was the smallest hike since the first March 2022, taking the fed funds rate to a target range of 4.5%-4.75%. But the minutes stated that the reduced pace came with a high level of concern that inflation was still a threat. … The summary repeated that members believe “ongoing” rate hikes will be necessary.
Source: CNBC – Bonds
