Federal Reserve policymakers were cautiously optimistic about their ability to h...
WASHINGTON - Federal Reserve policymakers were cautiously optimistic about their ability to hold interest rates steady this year, minutes of the central bank’s last policy meeting showed, even as they acknowledged new risks caused by the coronavirus outbreak.
“Participants generally saw the distribution of risks to the outlook for economic activity as somewhat more favorable than at the previous meeting,” the Fed said in the minutes of the Jan. 28-29 meeting. It went on to say the current stance of monetary policy was likely to remain appropriate “for a time.”
On Tuesday Apple Inc issued a revenue warning due to the disruption the epidemic is causing to its supply chain. China, the world’s second-largest economy, is still struggling to get its manufacturing sector back up and running after imposing severe travel restrictions to contain the flu-like virus.
Despite that Fed officials offered a fairly upbeat assessment of the economy, expecting consumer spending to “likely remain on a firm footing,” job gains to expand at a healthy pace, continued moderate economic expansion and inflation returning to its 2% goal. The Fed is forecasting the economy growing 2.0% this year.
“Most participants expressed concern that introducing a symmetric inflation range...could be misperceived as a signal that the Committee was comfortable with continued misses below its symmetric inflation objective,” the Fed said.Elsewhere in the minutes, Fed policymakers discussed how to handle its growing balance sheet. The Fed has been buying $60 billion monthly of U.S. Treasury bills since October to increase the level of reserves in the banking system in response to a liquidity crunch.
Norge Siste Nytt, Norge Overskrifter
Similar News:Du kan også lese nyheter som ligner på denne som vi har samlet inn fra andre nyhetskilder.
Fed calls the coronavirus a 'new risk to global growth outlook'Though the coronavirus had just taken hold when the Fed met in January, officials already expressed concern about its economic impacts.
Les mer »
U.S. consumers expect spending growth to slow: NY FedAmerican consumers expect their household spending to increase more slowly over ...
Les mer »
Fed officials feel rates are likely to stay where they are, minutes show
Les mer »
'A new risk to the global growth outlook': Here's what the Fed said about the coronavirus outbreak at its last meeting | Markets InsiderThe Federal Reserve deems its current policy stance and interest rate 'appropriate' amid the growing coronavirus threat, minutes from January's ...
Les mer »
Asian shares inch higher, euro teeters on weak economic outlookAsian shares and U.S. stock futures edged cautiously higher on Wednesday as inve...
Les mer »