Fed Minutes Show Uncertainty on Continued Rate Hikes

Click here to write a Letter to the Editor.

ederal Reserve commissioners were “uncertain” about how much, if any, further raising of interest rates would be needed after its latest quarter-point increase at its May 10 meeting, according to minutes of the meeting that were released Wednesday.

The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee’s minutes for the first time in three years did not give a clear indication of whether it would further tighten rates at its next meeting, scheduled for June 28-29, Bloomberg reported.

Those minutes showed that Fed officials discussed a number of options — ranging from leaving rates unchanged to boosting them by a half-percentage point, the Associated Press reported.

The Fed has raised rates by a quarter-point — the latest increase bringing the federal funds rate to 5% — at its May 10 meeting, and has done so at its last 16 meetings dating back to June 2004.

The increases have been in part to help stem inflation, Bloomberg said.

The May 10 meeting was the third of eight FOMC meetings scheduled for this year.