WASHINGTON: A divided Federal Reserve that decided to hit pause in its easing cycle following a rate cut in October signalled in minutes of last month’s meeting it was in no hurry to reassess the path of interest rates.
The readout released on Wednesday of the October 29-30 policy discussion, at which the Fed voted 8-2 to lower US interest rates by a quarter percentage point, also showed policymakers further discussed the possibility of setting up a standing repo facility in the wake of recent stresses in short-term money markets.
“Most participants judged that the stance of policy, after a 25 basis point reduction at this meeting, would be well calibrated to support the outlook of moderate growth, a strong labour market and inflation near the committee’s symmetric 2 per cent objective,” the Fed said in the minutes.
Following the meeting, Fed Chair Jerome Powell indicated the Fed was effectively on hold with interest rates and said that would only change if there was a “material” change in the US economic outlook.
That phrasing, absent from the policy statement at the time, suggested that October’s reduction in borrowing costs to a target range of between 1.50 per cent and 1.75 per cent, would be the last rate move over the short term.
“The committee intends to keep rates on hold for the time being. After three consecutive rate reductions, the mid-cycle adjustment is over,” said Bob Miller, Head of Americas Fundamental Fixed Income at BlackRock Inc. “Beyond that...new information contained in these minutes was limited.”
The cuts have been positioned as insurance to help shield the US economy from the effects of the trade war between the United States and China and slowing global growth, which have hurt manufacturing, business investment and exports.
US financial markets were little changed following the release of the minutes as investors focused on the elusive US-China trade deal.
In the minutes, there was little discussion of what a “material” reassessment would involve, bar two policymakers who wanted the Fed to make plain that another rate cut would be unlikely in the near term unless there was a significant slowdown in the pace of economic growth. Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan has since said the price of his support was such a statement being made.
On Tuesday, New York Fed President John Williams said he would consider a material change to be if the US economy slowed to below-trend growth on a sustained basis or inflation persistently faltered.
The Fed is forecasting the economy growing 2.2 per cent this year, slightly above its potential, which the central bank estimates at around 2 per cent.
While economic growth has slowed this year, fears that sectoral weakness could spread to the wider economy have not materialised as it continues to expand at a moderate pace with unemployment near a 50-year low and consumer spending, which accounts for roughly 70 per cent of US economic activity, still holding up. — Reuters
Oman Observer is now on the WhatsApp channel. Click here
