By Lindsay Dunsmuir
(Reuters) -A growing number of Federal Reserve policymakers indicated they would be open to speeding up the elimination of their bond-buying program if high inflation held and move more quickly to raise interest rates, minutes of the U.S. central bank's last policy meeting showed.
The readout released on Wednesday was the latest indication that anxiety about rising inflation at the Fed has now taken root, with many officials at the Nov. 2-3 meeting also suggesting elevated price pressures could prove more persistent.
The durability and broadening in price pressures has taken the White House and the central bank by surprise and prompted both to respond. U.S. President Joe Biden and Fed Chair Jerome Powell stressed earlier this week that they would take steps to tackle the rising costs of everyday items, including food, gasoline and rent.
Although the surge in inflation in late spring and over the summer was portrayed as transitory, concern within the Fed has mounted as readings have continued to remain elevated into the fall.
"Various participants noted that the (policy-setting) Committee should be prepared to adjust the pace of asset purchases and raise the target range for the federal funds rate sooner than participants currently anticipated if inflation continued to run higher than levels consistent with the Committee's objectives," the Fed said in the minutes.
Fed policymakers unanimously decided at last month's meeting to begin reducing the central bank's $120 billion in monthly purchases of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities, a program introduced in early 2020 to help nurse the economy through the COVID-19 pandemic. A number outright favored a faster taper of the bond-buying program during those deliberations, the minutes showed.
The original pace would see the asset purchases tapered completely by next June. Since then, however, there have been increasing calls by some policymakers to accelerate the timeline in the face of the continued high inflation readings and stronger job gains, in order to give the Fed greater flexibility to raise its benchmark overnight interest rate from the current near-zero level earlier next year if needed.
Investors' reaction to the release of the minutes was largely muted, with the S&P 500 index up about 0.2% in late afternoon trading. Yields on the shorter-dated Treasuries most sensitive to Fed policy expectations held steady at slightly higher levels, while the dollar remained near its highest mark since July 2020 against a basket of major trading partners' currencies.