WASHINGTON, Feb. 19 (Xinhua) -- The minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve (Fed)'s January policy meeting released on Wednesday showed most central bank officials believed that interest rates are at an appropriate level and the global economy has "tentative signs of stabilization."
The records showed that Fed officials voted unanimously to hold interest rates steady at their January meeting.
"Members judged that the current stance of monetary policy was appropriate to support sustained expansion of economic activity, strong labor market conditions, and inflation returning to the Committee's symmetric 2 percent objective," the minutes said.
Fed officials said the U.S. economy would continue to grow at a moderate pace, supported by accommodative monetary policy and financial conditions as well as the progress on trade issues.
"The easing of trade tensions ... as well as tentative signs of stabilization in global economic growth helped reduce downside risks and appeared to buoy business sentiment," the minutes added.
The minutes said Fed policymakers believed their ongoing intervention in overnight lending markets worked well, giving the central bank an opportunity to withdraw from intervention.
"Many participants stressed that, as reserves approached durably ample levels, the need for sizable Treasury bill purchases and repo operations would diminish and that such operations could be gradually scaled back or phased out," the minutes said.
