US interest rates likely to stay high 'for some time': Fed minutes / Photo: Brendan SMIALOWSKI - AFP
-
Vessel operator seeks witnesses after Vancouver grounding
-
Bezos grant helps Seattle nonprofit move thousands of families toward housing
-
Shrini Srivastava joins crew of Varanasi-Delhi Vande Bharat Sleeper service
-
US stocks fall before midterm Election Day as technology shares weaken
-
Nearly Half of Australian Workers Overqualified, Survey Finds
-
BLS Polymers makes strong market debut at ₹248 per share
-
RBI eases export-declaration compliance for individual service exporters
-
Petrol and diesel prices remain broadly steady across major Indian cities
-
Reliance shares remain in focus after near-12% surge
-
Derek Tierney Outlines Ten-Year Strategy for National Digital Health System
-
Coal India prepares possible $1 billion Mahanadi Coalfields listing
-
BLS Polymers shares open 65.3% above IPO price
-
Capital-markets shares rally as Motilal Oswal and Angel One lead gains
-
ITC shares rise as analysts anticipate gradual cigarette-business recovery
-
Reliance rally puts historical one-year return pattern in focus
-
The Digital Burden: Why Instant Messaging Feels Like a Full-Time Job
-
Saudi Aramco quarterly profit climbs 34.6% amid elevated oil prices
-
Korea’s Labor Share of GDP Hits Record Low Amid Semiconductor Boom
-
Australia raises benchmark rate to highest level in 18 years
-
littlefish and Halo Dot Partner to Replace Payment Terminals with SoftPOS
-
Asian stocks retreat as AI worries outweigh steep oil-price drop
-
Egypt Accelerates Construction of 341km Sinai Railway Linking Arish and Taba
-
Hamad International Airport stages emergency drills during WATAN 2026
US interest rates likely to stay high 'for some time': Fed minutes
US Federal Reserve officials expect interest rates will need to remain high "for some time" to tackle stubborn inflation, according to minutes of the most recent rate decision published on Wednesday.
The Fed announced last month that it would continue to hold interest rates at a 22-year high, and penciled in up to three rate cuts in 2024, sending US stock markets surging to new records.
Since then, Fed officials have looked to dampen the buoyant market expectations that cuts were imminent, stressing that inflation remains stuck above the central bank's long-run target of two percent.
In December, the Fed's rate-setting committee "reaffirmed that it would be appropriate for policy to remain at a restrictive stance for some time until inflation was clearly moving down sustainably" towards target, according to minutes of the meeting published Wednesday.
The document did not delve into details of a discussion Fed Chair Jerome Powell alluded to in last month's press conference, about when it would be appropriate to start cutting rates.
Since peaking in 2022, the Fed's favored inflation gauge has fallen sharply, reaching an annual rate of 2.6 percent in November.
So-called core inflation, which strips out volatile food and energy prices, also cooled last month to an annual rate of 3.2 percent.
At the same time, economic growth has shown signs of moderating, the job market appears to be softening, and the unemployment rate has remained close to record lows.
These facts have fueled hopes the Fed is on track to bring down inflation while avoiding a damaging recession, a rare feat known as a "soft landing."
Speaking at a conference in Raleigh, North Carolina, on Wednesday, Richmond Fed President Tom Barkin said a soft landing "is increasingly conceivable but in no way inevitable."
But Barkin, who is a voting member of the Fed's rate-setting committee this year, added that there was "no autopilot," and that policymakers would continue to be guided by the incoming data.
Futures traders have assigned a probability of more than 90 percent that policymakers will vote to hold the Fed's key lending rate steady again when they meet later this month, according to CME Group data.
Ng.A.Adebayo--CPN