FOMC minutes: full review – Nomura

By FXStreet Analysts at Nomura explained their review of the FOMC minutes.

Key Quotes:

“The minutes from the 26-27 April FOMC meeting read more hawkish than we had anticipated. The Committee seemed skeptical about the slowdown in economic activity to start the year. Although the Committee acknowledged that economic activity had slowed, many participants looked through the weak data citing potential measurement issues for Q1 economic data.

The Committee also noted that financial conditions had improved significantly over the intermeeting period. Participants generally agreed that easing in financial conditions would support domestic economic activity and had reduced the downside risks to the economic outlook. In addition, the Committee acknowledged that risks associated with global developments had diminished over the intermeeting period, leading to the removal of the key phrase “global economic and financial developments continued to pose risks” from its policy statement.

The minutes also showed that the Committee is prepared to raise rates at the June FOMC meeting as long as the incoming data cooperate with its outlook. In the “Participants’ Views on Current Conditions and the Economic Outlook” section, it stated: “Most participants judged that if incoming data were consistent with economic growth picking up in the second quarter, labor market conditions …read more

Source:: FX Street