Highlights:
- “the economy remained clearly in excess demand and that the rebalancing of supply and demand was likely to take longer than previously expected.”
- “members felt that enough data had accumulated to convince them that more restrictive policy was needed.”
- Growth of gross domestic product (GDP) in the first quarter was 3.1%, above the Bank’s expectations of 2.3%.
- Consumption growth was surprisingly strong, coming in at 5.8%, with strength not only in services but also in goods sensitive to interest rates, such as automobiles, furnishings and other household products.
- “wage growth remained elevated across a variety of sectors and above rates that would be consistent with the 2% inflation target, absent a substantial increase in productivity.”
- Despite higher interest rates, consumer demand was proving more robust than Governing Council had expected.
TLDRS:
- There was a debate over whether to increase the rate immediately or to signal a likely increase in the future. They decided to increase the target for the overnight rate to 4¾% and continue to assess the need for further increases based on incoming data.
- They did the opposite of JPow and the Fed.
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