Overview
- January FOMC minutes detail three camps: officials open to cuts if inflation cools, others favoring a prolonged hold, and several keeping the option of raising rates if price pressures persist above target.
- Policymakers voted 10–2 to hold the federal funds rate at 3.5% to 3.75%, with Governors Stephen Miran and Christopher Waller dissenting in favor of a quarter-point cut.
- Several participants warned that easing with inflation still elevated could be read as wavering on the Fed’s 2% objective.
- Recent data showed CPI up 2.4% year over year in January and payrolls rising by about 130,000 with unemployment at 4.3%, leaving the policy outlook mixed.
- President Trump nominated former Fed governor Kevin Warsh to succeed Jerome Powell, and analysts say he would face a committee comfortable with a near‑neutral stance and cautious about rapid easing.