The US economic expansion is set to gain momentum, hardening the arguments for increases in short-term interest rates, Federal Reserve policymakers said at their latest meeting.
A number of participants in the US central bank’s January 30-31 meeting said they had marked up their growth forecasts since the previous month, encouraged by firm global growth, supportive financial markets and the potential for US tax cuts to boost the economy more than expected. Others said the “upside risks” to growth may have increased, according to minutes of the gathering.
“A majority of participants noted that a stronger outlook for economic growth raised the likelihood that further gradual policy firming would be appropriate,” according to the record released on Wednesday.