Nearly all Federal Reserve officials signaled during their June policy-setting meeting that additional interest rates are likely this year amid signs of sticky core inflation within the economy.
“In discussing the policy outlook, all participants continued to anticipate that, with inflation still well above the Committee’s 2% goal and the labor market remaining very tight, maintaining a restrictive stance for monetary policy would be appropriate to achieve the Committee’s objectives,” the minutes said. “Almost all participants noted that in their economic projections that they judged that additional increases in the target federal funds rate during 2023 would be appropriate.”
Officials voted at the meeting to pause their interest rate hike campaign after a string of 10 increases that spanned 15 months. However, policymakers also opened the door to at least two more rate increases this year – a surprisingly hawkish projection that left Wall Street scratching its head.
In the weeks since then, several Fed officials – including Chair Jerome Powell – have signaled that rate increases are likely to continue as government data points to a slow retreat for inflation.
“We did take one meeting where we didn’t move,” Powell said during an event held by the Spanish central bank in Madrid last week. “We expect the moderate pace of interest rate decisions to continue.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.