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WASHINGTON (AP) - Heightened concern about the harsher-than-expected housing slump was an important factor in the Federal Reserve's decision last month to hold interest rates steady.
Minutes released Wednesday of the Fed's deliberations disclose policymakers' increasing worry about the real estate bust even as they reaffirmed their chief aim of ensuring inflation continued to recede.
The Fed kept interest rates steady at the December meeting. But the central bank left open a possible rate increase, if needed, to thwart inflation. But one Fed member, who is not identified in the minutes of the meeting, thought the Fed should have held out the possibility of a rate cut as well.
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