Investing.com - The Fed showed caution in the May minutes of its policy decision released on Wednesday, but most appeared to suggest a hike was coming soon.
The May 2-3 meeting at which the Fed held steady showed the wind-down of the U.S. central bank's massive holdings of Treasury debt and mortgage-backed securities is likely to start this year.
"Members generally judged that it would be prudent to await additional evidence indicating that a recent slowdown in the pace of economic activity had been transitory before taking another step in removing accommodation," according to the minutes.
But the overall assessment of the economy was little changed from the previous meeting and there were expectations that consumer spending would rebound in coming months in light of solid economic fundamentals.
Participants generally continued to expect that inflation would stabilize around the 2% objective over the medium term, especially as import prices had begun to increase. A few participants, however, expressed uncertainty about the reasons for the recent unexpected weakness in inflation.