Federal Reserve Minutes Show Officials Cautious About Rate Cuts

Federal Reserve Minutes Show Officials Cautious About Rate Cuts Minutes from the Fed’s December meeting show officials felt the economic outlook was uncertain and further hikes were still “possible.” WASHINGTON — The Federal Reserve’s policymakers concluded last month that inflationary pressures were easing and that the job market was cooling. In response, the officials chose to leave their key interest rate unchanged for the third straight time and signaled that they expected to cut rates three times in 2024. According to the minutes of their Dec. 12-13 meeting released Wednesday, Fed officials indicated in their own interest-rate forecasts that a lower benchmark rate “would be appropriate by the end of 2024'’ given “clear progress’’ toward taming inflation. But they “stressed the importance’’ of remaining vigilant and keeping rates high “until inflation was clearly moving do...