 The voting members of the Federal Open Market Committee seemed comfortable with their patient stance on interest rate, agreeing it could last for "some time," according to minutes of their April 30- May 1 meeting released Wednesday. Even if global economic and financial conditions improve, a wait-and-see approach was warranted, the officials said. Officials were split on the outlook for interest rates. A few officials said there might be a need for higher rates if the economy evolves as they thought. But others thought higher productivity might mean there was more economic slack than the low unemployment rate might suggest. Several others expressed worry about the risk of low inflation readings leading to lower expectations of future inflation, but did not call for a rate cut. Many said that the recent low inflation readings were transitory. In addition to interest-rate policy, there was a lengthy discussion, but no decision, about what types of Treasurys the central bank should hold once its balance sheet stops shrinking.
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