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Key Takeaways
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The Federal Reserve's policy committee is firmly in 'wait and see' mode as inflation has stayed high and President Donald Trump has yet to finalize important economic policies, the most recent meeting minutes show.
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The central bank put interest rates on hold in January and may not lower them again this year as it waits to see if inflation will fall to the goal of a 2% annual rate or reignite.
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The Fed's minutes echoed public comments officials have made since the meeting.
Behind the scenes, officials at the Federal Reserve have been saying the same things they've said in public: that central bankers are in no hurry to cut borrowing costs.
Minutes released Wednesday from the Federal Reserve's policy meeting in January show that decision-makers are in no rush to lower the central bank's key interest rate, echoing comments they've made in public since.
"A majority of participants observed that the current high degree of uncertainty made it appropriate for the committee to take a careful approach in considering additional adjustments to the stance of monetary policy," the minutes noted.
Higher-than-expected inflation and uncertainty about President Donald Trump's economic policies have kept the Federal Open Market Committee in "wait-and-see" mode after three rate cuts late last year.
"The minutes from the January meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee suggest that, given the heightened uncertainty around trade and immigration policies, the safest place for the central bank to be is on the sidelines," Ryan Sweet, chief U.S. economist at Oxford Economics, wrote in a commentary.
In September, the central bank cut its federal funds rate, which influences borrowing costs on all kinds of loans. Fed officials brought the key interest rate down from its two-decade high and did it again at two subsequent meetings.
The Fed aims to keep the rate high enough to slow the economy and squash inflation but not so high that unemployment spikes. Inflation, which spiked in the aftermath of the pandemic, is still running above the Fed's target of a 2% annual rate while the labor market has stayed resilient.
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