Eyes on FOMC Meeting Minutes
Minutes of the Federal Reserve’s September policy meeting could illuminate the degree of pressure Chair Janet Yellen faced from officials eager to raise interest rates, insights that could help guide expectations on the likelihood of a hike by year end.
Three of 10 voters on the FOMC dissented in the Sept. 21 hold, arguing for a rate increase instead. Seven other officials participated in the meeting and expressed their views but are not FOMC voters this year.
“I would look for quantifications of how many participants shared the views of the three dissenters,” said Roberto Perli, partner at Cornerstone Macro LLC in Washington. “That might give us a sense of whether a hike this year is a solid base case, or whether it could go away with just some mildly disappointing data.”
September’s FOMC decision marked the first time in five years that three voters broke rank with the chair in favor of a rate increase. Yellen has worked hard in her two-plus years at the helm of the U.S. central bank to maintain consensus within the committee in favor of keeping rates low, a consensus that is beginning to unravel.
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Bank of Japan Governor Haruhiko Kuroda said on Wednesday he is prepared to ease monetary policy again if needed, including pushing short-term interest rates further into negative territory, to jump-start a sluggish economy and stoke inflation.
Kuroda, speaking in the lower house budget committee, said the BOJ's government debt purchases may fluctuate around 80 trillion yen ($778 billion) but emphasized that the central bank will continue to buy a lot of debt to influence the yield curve
Oil prices edged up on Wednesday
Oil prices edged up on Wednesday, supported by record Indian crude imports and upcoming talks between OPEC producers and other oil exporters on curbing output to end a glut in the global market.
U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures CLc1 were up 15 cents, or 0.3 percent, from their last settlement at $50.94 per barrel.
Reference: Bloomberg,Reuters
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