Many Fed Officials Saw June Rate Rise as Unlikely, Minutes Show

20-May (Bloomberg) — Federal Reserve officials last month didn’t expect to raise rates at their next meeting in June even as they concluded that a first-quarter economic slowdown was unlikely to persist, minutes of the meeting show.

Many of the participants “thought it unlikely that the data available in June would provide sufficient confirmation that the conditions for raising the target range for the federal funds rate had been satisfied,” according to minutes of the April 28-29 Federal Open Market Committee session released Wednesday in Washington.

That sentiment outweighed the opinion of “a few” members, who said they anticipated the economy would be ready for a June liftoff, the minutes showed. At the same time, officials didn’t rule out the option of tightening at that time.

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