Minutes of the March 20-21 Federal Open Market Committee meeting released Wednesday show "all" participants saw some more interest-rate hikes as likely. Instead of discussing whether to hike rates, the debate centered more on how much tightening would be needed. "Several" Fed officials thought the Fed might have raise interest rates to a level that would act as a restraining factor for economic activity. Some argued that it might become necessary to signal this possibility in an upcoming statement. The minutes show a Fed that was confident in its outlook that the economy would recover from the sluggish first quarter and that inflation would move up toward the 2% target. There was a debate about the benefits of letting inflation modestly overshoot the 2% inflation target but also about the possible risks of an overheated economy.
Read the full story: Fed discussed need to slow the U.S. economy down, minutes show