FOMC Minutes: Policymakers determined to adopt more restrictive policy stance

The Federal Open Market Committee minutes of September’s meeting have been released:

Fed officials determined that they needed to adopt and maintain a more restrictive policy stance in order to achieve their goal of lowering elevated inflation.

Many participants raised their assessment of the federal funding path required to meet committee objectives.

Many participants indicated that once policy had reached a sufficiently restrictive level, it would be appropriate to keep it there for a period of time.

Several participants predicted that as policy became more restrictive, risks would become more two-sided.
Several participants emphasized the importance of maintaining a restrictive stance for as long as necessary.
Despite a slowing labour market, officials are committed to raising interest rates.

Meanwhile, the attention will now turn to the US inflation data on Thursday. On Wednesday morning, US producer prices increased more than expected in September, further boosting the dollar, especially against the yen where the market’s attention is focussed the most. The producer price index for final demand rebounded 0.4%, above the forecast for a 0.2% rise. In the 12 months through September, the PPI increased 8.5% after advancing 8.7% in August.