The January statement had only modest changes so reading the tealeaves of the FOMC Minutes ‘should’ provide little additional color with the main focus on the meaning of ‘patient‘, fears over ‘international developments‘, the ‘right’ gauge of inflation, and pace of rate lift-off…
It appears The Fed is ‘worried’ again… lower for longerer…
Pre-FOMC Minutes: S&P Futs 2091.25, 10Y 2.122%, Gold $1201.50, WTI $52.05
It’s been a good 3 weeks for stocks and oil since The FOMC Meeting…(and not for Bonds and PMs)
Click on picture to enlarge
Additional headlines:
The key sections from the minutes:
Many participants indicated that their assessment of the balance of risks associated with the timing of the begin-ning of policy normalization had inclined them toward keeping the federal funds rate at its effective lower bound for a longer time.
Not everyone agreed:
Some observed that, even with these risks taken into consideration, the federal funds rate may have already been kept at its lower bound for a sufficient length of time, and that it might be appropriate to begin policy firming in the near term.