Fed gave no indication of possible rate cuts at last meeting, minutes show

cnbc.com:

Federal Reserve officials at their most recent meeting expressed little appetite for cutting interest rates anytime soon, particularly as inflation remains well above their goal, according to minutes released Tuesday. 

The summary of the meeting, held Oct. 31-Nov. 1, showed that Federal Open Market Committee members still worry that inflation could be stubborn or move higher, and that more may need to be done.

At the least, they said policy will need to stay «restrictive» until data shows inflation on a convincing trek back to the central bank's 2% goal.

«In discussing the policy outlook, participants continued to judge that it was critical that the stance of monetary policy be kept sufficiently restrictive to return inflation to the Committee's 2 percent objective over time,» the minutes said.

Along with that, however, the minutes showed that members believe they can move «proceed carefully» and make decisions «on the totality of incoming information and its implications for the economic outlook as well as the balance of risks.»

The release comes amid overwhelming sentiment on Wall Street that the Fed is done hiking.

Traders in the fed funds futures market are indicating virtually no probability that policymakers will increase rates again this cycle, and in fact are pricing in cuts starting in May. Ultimately, the market expects that the Fed will enact the equivalent of four quarter percentage point cuts before the end of 2024.

However, the minutes gave no indication that members even discussed when they might start lowering rates, which was reflected in Chairman Jerome Powell's post-meeting news conference.

«The fact is, the Committee is not thinking about rate cuts right now at all,» Powell said then.

The fed's