The Federal Reserve Meeting Minutes reveal significant internal division, with the decision-making body sticking to rate cuts amid inflation warnings

BlockBeats News, November 20th. The minutes of the Federal Reserve's October policy meeting showed that the Fed's decision-making body had a deep divide when cutting rates last month. Despite policymakers warning that rate cuts could hinder efforts to contain inflation - with U.S. inflation remaining above the 2% target for the past four and a half years - they eventually decided to lower the rate. The minutes of the meeting revealed:

"Many participants favored reducing the federal funds rate target range," but at the same time, it was noted that some members who supported keeping rates unchanged found that option acceptable.

Several officials directly opposed the rate cut, "expressing concern that the committee's progress towards achieving the 2% inflation target had stalled and noting that if inflation did not promptly return to 2%, long-term inflation expectations could rise."

The minutes added: "Most participants noted that further lowering the policy rate could exacerbate the risk of persistent high inflation or be misinterpreted by markets as policymakers not being steadfast in achieving the 2% inflation goal."

These minutes reflect officials' efforts to seek consensus in the absence of data: balancing the dual risks of rising inflation and a weak job market, while also cautioning that a "sharp repricing of AI investments in the market" could lead to "disorderly stock market declines." (Kryptonian)