Current:Home > FinanceFederal Reserve minutes: Too-high inflation, still a threat, could require more rate hikes-LoTradeCoin
Federal Reserve minutes: Too-high inflation, still a threat, could require more rate hikes
View Date:2024-12-23 19:46:41
WASHINGTON (AP) — Most Federal Reserve officials last month still regarded high inflation as an ongoing threat that could require further interest rate increases, according to the minutes of their July 25-26 meeting released Wednesday.
At the same time, the officials saw “a number of tentative signs that inflation pressures could be abating.” It was a mixed view that echoed Chair Jerome Powell’s noncommittal stance about future rate hikes at a news conference after the meeting.
According to the minutes, the Fed’s policymakers also felt that despite signs of progress on inflation, it remained well above their 2% target. They “would need to see more data ... to be confident that inflation pressures were abating” and on track to return to their target.
At the meeting, the Fed decided to raise its benchmark rate for the 11th time in 17 months in its ongoing drive to curb inflation. But in a statement after the meeting, it provided little guidance about when — or whether — it might raise rates again.
Most investors and economists have said they believe July’s rate hike will be the last. Earlier this week, economists at Goldman Sachs projected that the Fed will actually start to cut rates by the middle of next year.
Since last month’s Fed meeting, more data has pointed in the direction of a “soft landing,” in which the economy would slow enough to reduce inflation toward the central bank’s 2% target without falling into a deep recession. The Fed has raised its key rate to a 22-year high of about 5.4%.
Inflation has cooled further, according to the latest readings of “core” prices, a closely watched category that excludes volatile food and energy costs. Core prices rose 4.7% in July a year earlier, the smallest such increase since October 2021. Fed officials track core prices, which they believe provide a better read on underlying inflation.
Overall consumer prices rose 3.2% in July compared with a year earlier, above the previous month’s pace because of higher gas and food costs. Still, that is far below the peak inflation rate of 9.1% in June 2022.
Yet that progress has been made without the sharp increase in unemployment that many economists had expected would follow the Fed’s sharp series of interest rate hikes, the fastest in four decades.
veryGood! (2)
Related
- Ex-Duke star Kyle Singler draws concern from basketball world over cryptic Instagram post
- Child poverty in the US jumped and income declined in 2022 as coronavirus pandemic benefits ended
- From 'Freaks and Geeks' to 'Barbie,' this casting director decides who gets on-screen
- Gisele Bündchen Wears Pantless Look for Surprise Return to New York Fashion Week
- Melissa Gilbert recalls 'painful' final moment with 'Little House' co-star Michael Landon
- CDC advisers back broad rollout out of new COVID boosters
- 'The streak is now broken': US poverty rate over time shows spike in 2022 levels
- School bus driver suspected of not yielding before crash that killed high school student in car
- Michael Jordan and driver Tyler Reddick come up short in bid for NASCAR championship
- Shakira Twins With All Grown Up Sons Milan and Sasha at the 2023 MTV VMAs
Ranking
- MVSU football player killed, driver injured in crash after police chase
- How Libya’s chaos left its people vulnerable to deadly flooding
- Child poverty in the US jumped and income declined in 2022 as coronavirus pandemic benefits ended
- Rep. Barbara Lee says California Gov. Gavin Newsom's plan for Senate seat is insulting
- Jon Gruden joins Barstool Sports three years after email scandal with NFL
- Meghan Markle’s Update About Archie and Lili Is Sweet as Sugar
- Industrial policy, the debate!
- New iPhone 15 will use USB-C chargers: What to know about Apple's charging cord switch
Recommendation
-
Kansas basketball vs Michigan State live score updates, highlights, how to watch Champions Classic
-
McCarthy directs House panel to open Biden impeachment inquiry
-
Ukrainian pilots could be flying F-16s in three months, Air National Guard head says
-
Danelo Cavalcante press conference livestream: Police give updates on search for Pennsylvania prisoner
-
13 escaped monkeys still on the loose in South Carolina after 30 were recaptured
-
Police round up migrants in Serbia and report finding weapons in raid of a border area with Hungary
-
Hurricane Lee swirls through open waters on a path to Atlantic Canada
-
You Won't Be Able to Calm Down After Seeing Selena Gomez's Sexy Swimsuit Selfie