Many Fed officials have expressed their support for the need to control the pace of interest rate increases, as indicated by the minutes of the central bank’s November 1-2 meeting.
Only a few of these officials stressed the need to raise the benchmark interest rate even higher. Since the last Fed meeting, investors have scrutinized a raft of economic data that has somewhat quelled inflation concerns, reinforcing the case for a smaller interest rate hike.
Came Hatfield of Infrastructure Capital Management said, “The minutes of the meeting reflect a facilitative position, as they acknowledge the decline in consumer demand and the difficult global financial and economic conditions.”
However, some investors believe that the minutes of the meeting did not bring anything new and that the markets may be overreacting to what they perceive to be a change in tone.