Fed at last meeting saw few signs that inflation was easing
Federal Reserve officials at their last meeting saw “very few signs that inflation pressures were abating” before raising their benchmark interest rate by a substantial three-quarters of a point for a fourth straight time
WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve officials at their last meeting saw “very few signs that inflation pressures were abating” before raising their benchmark interest rate by a substantial three-quarters of a point for a fourth straight time.
Rising wages, the result of a strong job market, combined with weak productivity growth, were “inconsistent" with the Fed’s ability to meet its 2% target for annual inflation, the policymakers concluded, according to the minutes of their Nov. 1-2 meeting released Wednesday.
Taming inflation
At that meeting, the Fed officials also expressed uncertainty about how long it might take for their rate hikes to slow the economy enough to tame inflation. Still, some of the policymakers expressed hope that falling commodity prices and the unsnarling of supply chain bottlenecks “should contribute to lower inflation in the medium term.’’
