Fed minutes show officials didn’t rule out further rate hikes
High degree of uncertainty called for ‘careful’ approach to monetary policy, officials said
Federal Reserve officials at their meeting in mid-December said that it was possible that the economy could evolve in a manner that would make further rate hikes appropriate, according to a summary of the discussion released Wednesday.
The minutes portray a cautious Fed official, even though almost all of the top officials had penciled in some easing in 2024 in their forecasts.
Fed officials stressed that these forecasts were associated with an “unusually elevated degree of uncertainty.”
In addition to possible rate hikes, “several” officials said that the Fed might have to hold its benchmark rate steady for “longer that they were currently anticipated.”
