Fed feeling 'uncertainty' on rate policy

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- The Federal Reserve said Thursday that it saw "significant uncertainty" about federal funds rate policy going forward.

It also reported that it will extend its October policy meeting to two days so policy-makers can discuss communications, and plans to hold four two-day meetings next year, double the usual number.

The minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee said, "Many members noted that significant uncertainty accompanied the appropriate setting of policy going forward, and one indicated that the decision to raise the target federal funds rate at this meeting was a close call."

The committee hopes to allow more discussion with longer meetings.

"Compared with the practice of recent years, the number of two-day meetings was increased from two to four to allow more opportunity for in-depth discussion of economic issues," the Fed said in a statement announcing its meeting schedule.

The October meeting is scheduled to begin on Oct. 24 and wrap up the next day. Next year, the January, March, June and October meetings will all be two days.

Typically, only the January and June gatherings of the Federal Open Market Committee's eight annual meetings are two days, to allow members time to prepare the Fed's semiannual economic report to Congress.

According to minutes of the Fed's June 28-29 rate-setting meeting released Thursday, the Fed panel set up to consider communications strategy - which is chaired by Vice Chairman Donald Kohn - urged the main committee to kick off a broad discussion of the issue at its next meeting on Aug. 8.

The central bank's new chairman, Ben Bernanke, is a staunch advocate of more open communications. He has publicly backed the idea of a formal inflation target at the central bank along with more detailed economic forecasts.

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A divulgação das minutas sustenta a ideia já avançada ontem perante o senado norte-americano por Ben Bernanke, presidente da Reserva Federal, de que o ciclo de subidas dos juros poderá ter chegado ao fim, apesar da inflação permanecer em níveis elevados.

As minutas da reunião de Junho da Reserva Federal dos Estados Unidos mostram que a decisão de subida de 25 pontos base para, na altura, 5%, foi unânime, embora a economia já desse sinais de arrefecimento.

«A informação reunida na reunião de Junho sugere que o crescimento da actividade económica abrandou substancialmente no segundo trimestre face ao rápido ritmo do primeiro trimestre», revela o texto da reunião.

E acrescenta ainda que «a expansão dos gastos no consumo abrandou e a actividade no mercado imobiliário continua a arrefecer». Em contraste, a «taxa subjacente aos gastos da actividade empresarial permanece forte e bem suportada pelos fundamentais».

Em relação ao mercado de trabalho, as minutas da Reserva Federal revelam que «a procura de mão-de-obra está mais moderada à medida que as contratações tem vindo a diminuir nos últimos meses».

A inflação permaneceu elevada em Abril e Maio, a reflectir o forte aumento dos preços energéticos e uma subida mais rápida nos preços «core».

Canal de Negócios