Chair Jerome Powell told reporters after the January meeting that officials had not made any decisions on the timing or pace of balance-sheet reduction.
The minutes confirmed that officials didn’t get into the details of the pace of rate hikes or the mechanics of balance sheet runoff, which have been keen topics of interest in recent weeks. However, hot readings on the economy since the meeting have boosted expectations that Powell will provide more details next month, when officials will also have February inflation and employment reports in hand.
Powell also told reporters in January that U.S. labor market conditions were consistent with maximum employment. In the minutes, the Fed flagged, among other risks, “persistent real wage growth in excess of productivity growth that could trigger inflationary wage–price dynamics.”
It also noted “the possibility that longer-term inflation expectations could become unanchored,” though a blog post from the New York Fed’s Liberty Street Economics series earlier this week said that U.S. consumers don’t expect red-hot inflation levels to last over the next few years.
--With assistance from Liz Capo McCormick, Steve Matthews, Olivia Rockeman and Christopher Condon.
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.