Fed officials agreed to eventually dial back the pace of interest-rate hikes

 but also wanted to gauge how their monetary tightening was working toward curbing US inflation.

“As the stance of monetary policy tightened further, it likely would become appropriate at some point to slow the pace of policy rate increases while assessing the effects of cumulative policy adjustments on economic activity and inflation,” according to minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee’s July 26-27 meeting released Wednesday in Washington. 

“Many participants remarked that, in view of the constantly changing nature of the economic environment and the existence of long and variable lags in monetary policy’s effect on the economy, there was also a risk that the committee could tighten the stance of policy by more than necessary to restore price stability,” the minutes showed. 

Following the release, two-year Treasury yields and the dollar pared gains, while US stocks trimmed losses.

Bloomberg 17 augusti 2022 

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-08-17/fed-saw-smaller-hikes-ahead-to-assess-prior-moves-minutes-show

Fed officials see a significant risk that ‘elevated inflation ...

...could become entrenched if the public began to question’ the central bank’s resolve to raise rates high enough to curb inflation, according to the minutes of the Fed’s July 26-27 meeting.

WSJ 17 August 2022

https://www.wsj.com/articles/fed-officials-see-need-for-continued-interest-rate-increases-but-less-certainty-over-destination-11660760110

Some officials indicated that once rates had been raised to the point where they were cooling down the economy “sufficiently”, it would probably “be appropriate to maintain that level to ensure that inflation was firmly on a path back” to the Fed’s target of 2 per cent.

FT 17 August 2022

https://www.ft.com/content/8881b6d4-76e6-46cd-9ebe-efaeffeddb98