"Fed Minutes Reveal Persistent Inflation Concerns, Higher Rates Likely to Stay"

The minutes from the Federal Reserve's April 30-May 1 meeting reveal that participants believe it will take longer than anticipated to gain confidence in inflation sustainably reaching the 2% target. They expressed willingness to tighten policy further if necessary and noted uncertainty about the degree of policy restrictiveness. The future policy path will depend on incoming data and evolving risks. Most participants supported slowing the pace of the decline in the central bank's securities holdings, and some suggested discussing the longer-run maturity composition of the Fed’s portfolio. Recent data has not increased confidence in progress toward the inflation goal, and the disinflation process is expected to take longer.