FEDERAL RESERVE: “Federal Reserve officials said at their latest meeting they likely would raise short-term interest rates ‘in the near term’ due to a strengthening economy, although several said their support for the move would hinge on whether they see inflation picking up.
Minutes of the Oct. 31-Nov. 1 meeting, released Wednesday [11-22-17] with the usual three-week lag, indicated that officials thought inflation, which has been persistently weak in recent months, could stay below their 2% annual target for longer than many expected.
Most participants continued to think that a tightening labor market likely would push up inflation over the medium term. Nonetheless, as they have in other recent meetings, officials discussed possible explanations for the low inflation numbers at their most recent gathering.
The Fed’s working hypothesis in recent months held that low inflation readings were a temporary phenomenon that would fade over time.”
-Harriet Torry, “Fed on Track for December Rate Rise, but Inflation Worries Persist,” The Wall Street Journal online, Nov. 22, 2017 02:18pm