Federal Reserve officials reaffirmed the view that the central bank’s ultra-low interest rate remained the best policy approach, but signaled ongoing improvements in the U.S. economy may open a window for a fresh discussion on asset purchases.
“A number of participants suggested that if the economy continued to make rapid progress toward the Committee’s goals, it might be appropriate at some point in upcoming meetings to begin discussing a plan for adjusting the pace of asset purchases” the statement included.
U.S. stocks maintained losses after the release of the minutes at 2 PM ET.
Policymakers also expressed concerns about rising inflation which turned up in both the recent Consumer Price Index and the Producer Price Index.
Other concerns included supply chain bottlenecks with some officials noting that in some industries, the supply chain disruptions appeared to be “more persistent than originally anticipated.”
Still, even with the concerns expressed about price increases, Fed officials said that longer-term expectations about inflation remained well anchored at levels broadly consistent with achieving the goal of annual price increases hitting the Fed’s 2% target after a short period when they rose above that level.
