Federal Reserve divided on April rate hike decision

NEW YORK

Federal Reserve officials are divided on a decision whether to raise interest rates in April, according to minutes released Wednesday from the group’s March meeting.

"Some members" of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) are in favor of a rate hike during the Fed's next meeting April 27, if new U.S. economic data show growth, more strengthening in the labor market and inflation rising to a 2 percent target.

But others urged a cautious approach to increasing rates, reasoning that "raising the target range as soon as April would signal a sense of urgency they did not think appropriate."

Members are "about evenly," on the GDP growth projections, as some forecast it to be weighted down, while others expect it to be "broadly balanced."

The global economic slowdown is still viewed as a downside risk to GDP growth and inflation, as the minutes read, "the foreign exchange value of the dollar could rise substantially, which would put additional downward pressure on inflation."

Following the release of the minutes, U.S. stocks remained in positive territory but trimmed some its earlier gains during the day.

The Fed raised interest rates for the first time in almost a decade in December and at the time forecast three to four more hikes this year.

Those projections were trimmed last month to 2 hikes.

NEW YORK

Federal Reserve officials are divided on a decision whether to raise interest rates in April, according to minutes released Wednesday from the group’s March meeting.

But others urged a cautious approach to increasing rates, reasoning that "raising the target range as soon as April would signal a sense of urgency they did not think appropriate."

Members are "about evenly," on the GDP growth projections, as some forecast it to be weighted down, while others expect it to be "broadly balanced."

Following the release of the minutes, U.S. stocks remained in positive territory but trimmed some its earlier gains during the day.

The Fed raised interest rates for the first time in almost a decade in December and at the time forecast three to four more hikes this year.

Those projections were trimmed last month to 2 hikes.