Doubts about the strength of the US recovery appeared to grow among Federal Reserve policy makers in their latest rate-setting meeting as soggy economic data further diminished the prospect of a rate rise in the summer.
Minutes from the meeting on April 28-29 reveal a Federal Open Market Committee that was divided over when the central bank’s target range for the federal funds rate should be lifted from today’s near-zero levels. A “range of views” were expressed on the right time for a move.
Whereas a few rate-setters thought June could still be the right time for the first increase, they were outnumbered by those who thought conditions were unlikely to be right by then, following the release of weak economic data early in the year.