The Federal Reserve yesterday took baby steps in the direction of a more hawkish stance on rates, tweaking its guidance on future policy for the first time since March and shaving a token $25bn from planned asset purchases.
In a shift first foreshadowed in the Financial Times, the US central bank edged away from a simple forecast that it expects to keep rates at “exceptionally low levels” for an “extended period” – commonly understood to mean at least six months.
For the first time, policymakers identified the assumptions on which this interest rate guidance is based: “Low rates of resource utilisation, subdued inflation trends and stable inflation expectations.”