“Participants noted that inflation had moderated over the past year but stressed that current inflation remained unacceptably high and well above the committee’s longer-run goal of 2%,” according to the minutes. “They also stressed that further evidence would be required for them to be confident that inflation was clearly on a path to the committee’s 2% objective.”
In September, Fed officials forecast that the policy rate would rise another quarter point by the end of the year.
The November meeting tied Powell’s record of 11 straight meetings without a dissent. The Fed chair, who was appointed by President Donald Trump and reappointed by President Joe Biden, has a lower average of dissents per meeting than any of his four predecessors.
GDP rose at an annualized rate of 4.9% in the third quarter, the fastest pace in almost two years. Job gains remain strong, while inflation, measured by the Fed’s preferred price indicator, is cooling.
The personal consumption expenditures price index, minus food and energy, rose 3.7% for the year ending September, and at 2.4% on a three-month annual rate for the same month.
“Inflation has given us a few head fakes,” Fed Chair Jerome Powell told an IMF panel on Nov. 9. “We will continue to move carefully, however, allowing us to address both the risk of being misled by a few good months of data, and the risk of overtightening.”
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.