Fed May Be More Aggressive Than FOMC Minutes Suggest

The Investing.com - Federal Reserve is now clearly committed to raising interest rates on a regular basis. The minutes of its January FOMC policy committee meeting made that abundantly clear. Fed members agreed that a stronger outlook for economic growth warrants further gradual increases in its federal funds rate. And the Fed left no doubt that it saw inflation hitting its target rate of 2%. A key factor in the inflation equation is the Trump administration's massive tax cut package, which the Fed said might have a bigger impact in the short-term than previously thought.That and worrisome signs of inflation that surfaced after the Fed's meeting may have already changed its thinking about how many rate hikes are needed this year.Economic reports in showed wage growth and consumer prices running higher than expected, while the President signed off on a two-year budget with $200 billion in new spending.Meanwhile, interest rates have been hitting multi-year highs in the Treasury market, and will continue to do so with a record amount of new debt on its way.The market assumption has been three rate hikes in 2018, with the first coming at the Fed's March meeting. A growing minority, including JPMorgan Chase (NYSE:JPM), now expect the central bank to raise rates four times this year.