The minutes of the FOMC meeting held on 29th /30th January which were published yesterday reveal that committee members are not yet prepared to proclaim that the Fed’s rate-hike cycle is at an end. For example, a number of members of the Fed’s policymaking body have gone on record as saying that further tightening may perhaps be necessary over the course of the year, making this contingent on how the economic situation develops. The transcript shows, however, that almost all FOMC members are in agreement, in view of the growing risks, that a temporary pause in the rate-hiking cycle would be appropriate. They argue that there is currently a whole cluster of risks which, in their view, indubitably justify an interruption in the tightening cycle. Factors imposing a particular burden are the difficult Brexit negotiations, the trade dispute between the United States and China, the volatile equity-market trend and the…
