Fed Minutes: officials are less confident of the need for more rate hikes
The Federal Reserve's meeting minutes showed division between officials on the need for further increases to interest rates, with some members expressing the need to, and others calling for a tapering off.
The Federal Reserve decided earlier this month to raise interest rates by 25 basis points, but the minutes shed light on the divisions about the next stop, with the overall tone pointing to a pause in policy tightening.
At the last meeting, Federal Open Market Committee officials decided to remove a major passage off the manifest, which pointed to the need to maintain current monetary policies.
The Fed is now depending more on fresh data to decide the next move.
Overall, members expressed uncertainty on whether upcoming policy tightening is useful, with the discussions ending with two potential scenarios:
The first was the view of some members that inflation reduction has been unacceptably slow, and thus there's a need for more rate hikes.
The second was the view of some members who pointed to a slowdown in growth, which necessitates a pause to policy tightening.
US crude stocks tumble last week
The Energy Information Administration reported a steeo drop of 12.5 million barrels in US crude stocks last week, while analysts expected an increase of 1.9 million barrels.
Gasoline stocks are now down 2.1 million barrels to 216.3 million barrels, while distillate stocks are down 600 thousand barrels to 105.7 million barrels.
Wall Street below 33 thousand points ahead of Fed minutes
US stock indices declined on Wednesday amid the ongoing debt ceiling crisis with little progress in negotiations, while investors await the Federal Reserve's meeting minutes.
Debt Ceiling
White House and Congressional officials will meet later today to further negotiate after the failure of the previous talks to reach a compromise on raising the debt ceiling.
US President Joe Biden will extend talks with Congressional leaders later this week in a race to a catastrophic default on debt next week.
Many sticking points remain between both sides, with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reiterating warnings from a potential default on payments next June, which would threaten the credit rating for the US and tip the economy into recession.
Fed Meeting
Investors additionally await the Federal Reserve's meeting minutes later today to better gauge the path forward for monetary policy in the US.
On trading, Dow Jones fell 0.6%, or 200 points as of 15:47 GMT to 32,856, while S&P 500 fell 0.7%, or 30 points to 4,112, as NASDAQ lost 1%, or 121 points to 12,437.
Nickel extends losses but remains near $20,000 a tone
Nickel prices declined on Wednesday as the dollar maintained strength against most major rivals while the US debt ceiling crisis progresses.
Debt Ceiling
White House and Congressional officials will meet later today to further negotiate after the failure of the previous talks to reach a compromise on raising the debt ceiling.
US President Joe Biden will extend talks with Congressional leaders later this week in a race to a catastrophic default on debt next week.
Many sticking points remain between both sides, with US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen reiterating warnings from a potential default on payments next June, which would threaten the credit rating for the US and tip the economy into recession.
Fed Meeting
Investors additionally await the Federal Reserve's meeting minutes later today to better gauge the path forward for monetary policy in the US.
Otherwise, the dollar index rose 0.2% as of 15:19 GMT to 103.7, with a session-high at 103.7, and a low at 103.3.
Dollar's strength is weighing on most commodities and minerals and leading to a considerable decline.
Nickel spot prices tumbled 1.2% as of 15:30 GMT to $20.5 thousand a tone.