(Reuters) The U.S. dollar held near a one-month high on Wednesday after minutes from the May Federal Open Market Committee meeting showed officials agreed that their current patient approach to setting monetary policy could remain in place “for some time.”
Policymakers saw little need to change rates in either direction. A rate hike in 2019 is unlikely, even as the U.S. economy continues to grow and inflation remains muted, the minutes showed.
“People were looking for any type of pessimism that would lead to (the Federal Reserve) cutting rates. But at this moment they don’t want to do that,” said Juan Perez, senior foreign exchange trader and strategist, Monex, Inc.
The message communicated, Perez said, was that the FOMC “cannot afford to either hike or lower rates.”
