Fed minutes point to faster rate hikes

At the meeting in December, policymakers said that increasing rates faster than previously anticipated "may become warranted".  The Fed also discussed the shrinking of its almost $9trn balance sheet, which grew rapidly during the pandemic. "Almost all participants agreed that it would likely be appropriate to initiate balance sheet runoff at some point after the first increase in the target range for the federal funds rate," the minutes said. "However, participants judged that the appropriate timing of balance sheet runoff would likely be closer to that of policy rate liftoff than ...