Fed leans toward more hikes to curb inflation

Fed minutes said “almost all” officials agreed it was appropriate to raise interest rates by 25 basis points at their meeting earlier this month, while “a few” favoured or could have supported a bigger 50 basis-point hike. — Bloomberg

NEW YORK: Federal Reserve (Fed) officials continue to anticipate further increases in borrowing costs will be necessary to bring inflation down to their 2% target when they met earlier this month, though almost all supported a step down in the pace of hikes.

“Participants observed that a restrictive policy stance would need to be maintained until the incoming data provided confidence that inflation was on a sustained downward path to 2%, which was likely to take some time,” according to the minutes of the Jan 31 to Feb 1 gathering released in Washington on Wednesday.