Federal Reserve minutes show uncertainty about need for rate hikes

It seems Federal Reserve officials widely favored ending the runoff of the central bank’s balance sheet this year, while expressing uncertainty over whether they would raise interest rates again in 2019, minutes of their January meeting showed.

“Almost all participants thought that it would be desirable to announce before too long a plan to stop reducing the Federal Reserve’s asset holdings later this year,” according to the record of the Federal Open Market Committee’s Jan. 29-30 gathering released Wednesday. The Fed further explained its movement away from projecting gradual interest-rate hikes. The minutes said that “many participants suggested that it was not yet clear what adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate may be appropriate later this year.”