Highlights from the Fed minutes

Last night's publication of the minutes of the last Fed meeting, which took place at the end of July, may have affected the US dollar's trading. The policymakers touched on the regulation of the digital asset market for the first time at such a meeting.

According to the published minutes, Fed officials remain very attentive to inflation risks and are committed to lowering price growth and keeping inflation expectations under control. A commitment to tightening monetary policy can take place, even if it comes at the expense of economic growth, the FOMC minutes show. The July discussion touched on the possible risks of too many and too large interest rate hikes. There was also talk that the Fed may be pursuing too much restrictive monetary policy than is necessary to restore price stability in the economy.

The Fed, for the moment, seems unconcerned about GDP data and the risk of a sustained slowdown or official recession, as officials said the economy is stable for now, pointing to strong job growth, a low unemployment rate and elevated wage growth. Moreover, there was also a discussion of the possibility of a later upward revision of earlier GDP readings, which are revised over time. There was also a statement regarding possible further action by the Federal Reserve. Policymakers discussed the possibility of slowing the pace of interest rate hikes at some point, but this will require data readings that can be considered satisfactory in terms of the impact of current hikes on slowing inflation. Meanwhile, for the moment, it may be crucial to maintain a restrictive stance to avoid a loosening of inflation expectations.

Initially, after the release of the minutes, the EUR/USD exchange rate rose to 1.0200 before retreating to the region of 1.0150 this morning. The reaction thus appears to be mixed without leading to a major impulse, and the exchange rate of the main currency pair has remained in consolidation since the morning of August 16. On Wall Street, on the other hand, indexes were down after the publication. The S&P500 fell 0.3%, and the Nasdaq 100 fell 0.6%.

The committee also turned its attention to the world of digital assets. Participants recognized the growing importance of digital assets and their increasing interconnectedness with other segments of the financial system, underscoring the need to establish a robust supervisory and regulatory framework for the sector to adequately mitigate potential systemic risks. Several participants mentioned the need to strengthen supervision and regulation of certain types of non-bank financial institutions, according to published minutes.