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Federal Reserve officials saw their decision to suspend a two-year run of interest-rate increases as a ``close call'' and weren't entirely sure of the need for further tightening, records of their last meeting showed.
``Many members thought that the decision to keep policy unchanged at this meeting was a close call and noted that additional firming could well be needed,'' the Fed said in minutes of the Aug. 8 gathering, released in Washington 29.82006. ``Members generally saw limited risk in deferring further policy tightening that might prove necessary.''
That risk may be further diminished by reports since then showing slumps in home sales and consumer confidence as well as signs of slowing inflation. The minutes didn't indicate whether Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker, who opposed the decision, had much support in his argument for an 18th straight increase.
``The pause will last through the end of the year,'' said Lou Crandall, chief economist at Wrightson ICAP LLC in Jersey City, New Jersey. ``It appears to have been a tight consensus around a close call rather than a split.''
Stocks rose after the report and the dollar weakened versus the euro and yen. Treasury notes advanced. |
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