The US Federal Reserve is very cautious about lowering interest rates
The minutes of the meeting of US Federal Reserve officials showed extreme caution regarding reducing interest rates too quickly, in a decisive signal to speculation that the reduction will not happen soon.
Most bank officials last month cited concerns about moving too quickly to cut interest rates, suggesting those risks outweigh keeping borrowing costs high for too long.
In a position that interrupts the threads of hope woven by the markets, Fed officials indicated in their last meeting that they are not in a rush to raise interest rates, and they expressed their optimism and caution at the same time regarding inflation, according to the minutes of the session released on Wednesday.
These views come at a time when policymakers not only decided to leave the key borrowing rate unchanged, but also changed their post-meeting statement to indicate that no cuts will be made until the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets interest rates, “gains greater confidence.” "Inflation declines.
The summary of the meeting indicated a general feeling of optimism that the US Federal Reserve’s policy moves succeeded in reducing the inflation rate, which reached its highest level in more than 40 years in mid-2022.
Despite this optimism, officials indicated they wanted to see more before starting to ease policy, while saying interest rate hikes were likely over.