Fed Minutes Show Members Divided On Rate Hike Timing

(RTTNews) - Federal Reserve officials are divided over when to begin raising interest rates, according to the minutes of the two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting held in March.

The minutes showed that several participants determined that the economic data and outlook were likely to warrant beginning the process of raising rates in June.

However, others said conditions would not be appropriate to begin raising rates until later in the year due to the effects lower energy prices and the dollar's appreciation have on inflation.

The Fed noted that a couple of participants suggested that the economic outlook likely would not call for liftoff until 2016.

The minutes indicated that there was also some division with regard to communications about the timing of the first rate increase.

While two participants said the Fed should seek to signal its intentions at the meeting before a rate hike appeared likely, two others said doing so would be inconsistent with a meeting-by-meeting approach.

Meanwhile, the minutes showed that almost all participants noted potential risks to the economic outlook resulting from foreign economic and financial developments.

Most still saw the risks to the outlook for economic growth and the labor market as nearly balanced, the Fed said.

Peter Boockvar, managing director at the Lindsey Group, said, "Bottom line, there was nothing new learned in these minutes."

"Yes, they came before the disappointing payroll report, but within that report, the labor market actually tightened as the unemployment rate fell for every group except those with a high school degree," he added.

The Fed statement released following the March meeting was interpreted as dovish even though the central bank removed its pledge to remain "patient" regarding normalizing monetary policy.

In her subsequent press conference, Fed Chair Janet Yellen noted that removing the word patient from the statement doesn't mean the central bank is going to be impatient.

The focus seemed to be on the fact that the Fed lowered its outlook for interest rates at the end of this year, with the median projection for the fed funds rate at the end of 2015 now at 0.625 percent.

The next FOMC meeting is scheduled for April 28th and 29th, although many are already looking beyond that to the following meeting in mid-June.