Federal Reserve board agreed it would be appropriate to slow interest rate hikes soon, minutes show

The Federal Reserve board agreed this month that it would be appropriate to slow interest rate hikes soon, according to posted meeting minutes.

At its early November meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee raised interest rates by three quarters of a point to a range of 3.75 to 4 percent, the fourth consecutive hike of 75 basis points this year.

But most board members said they were open to a 50 basis point increase at the next meeting in December, showing an interest in slowing the interest rate hikes intended to pump the brakes on an economy struggling with a 40-year-high inflation rate.

Meeting minutes described the board members as “increasingly focused” on when the nation’s central bank “might slow the pace of future increases in light of the substantial tightening of financial conditions that had occurred over the year.”

The higher borrowing costs from rate hikes push down spending in an overheated economy, but economic analysts have warned the rising rates could tip the economy into a recession and drive up unemployment.

The Federal Reserve, pushing for a soft landing, or an economic slowdown following a high period of growth, has said it will keep raising interest rates until the inflation rate shows signs of falling.

The annual inflation rate fell from 8.2 percent in September to 7.7 percent in October, dropping more than analysts had projected. The decline is not enough for the Fed to stop raising interest rates but could allow the bank to slow the hikes.

Fears of a recession continue to hound the U.S., with some leading economists warning it could arrive by the spring, depending on the Fed’s rate hikes and other factors.

The country’s gross domestic product, a measure of the value of the economy’s goods and services, decreased for two consecutive quarters this year before growing in the third quarter, primarily driven by a surge in exports.