Federal Reserve officials expected at their policy meeting this month that it would “soon be appropriate” to raise short-term interest rates, a signal the U.S. central bank could move in June at its next gathering.
The Fed also moved toward a consensus on a proposal to start gradually shrinking its $4.5 trillion in holdings of Treasury and mortgage securities later in the year, according to minutes of the gathering released Wednesday. Under the approach discussed, they would allow increasing amounts of those securities to mature over time, without reinvesting the proceeds.
Fed officials left their benchmark short-term interest rates unchanged within a range between 0.75% and 1% at the meeting May 2-3. Several Fed officials in recent weeks have said they believe the economy will still be strong enough to warrant two more quarter-percentage-point rate increases this year.
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