Yet “almost all” also saw upside risks to inflation, and “many participants focused on the need to retain optionality” to either hold rates steady or increase them. Some saw the need for further rate hikes as “likely.”
The move last month to lift the central bank’s benchmark overnight interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point had “very strong across-the-board support,” Fed chair Jerome Powell said in his post-meeting press conference three weeks ago, but also came with language in the policy statement that opened the door to holding rates steady from there.
“Participants emphasized the importance of communicating to the public the data-dependent approach,” the minutes said of the Fed’s decision to change its policy guidance and open the door to a rate hike pause while also keeping open the possibility of further increases.