Investing.com - This Wednesday, the Federal Reserve (Fed) of the United States released the minutes of the monetary policy meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) held on May 6 and 7. In that meeting, the central bank decided to keep the reference rate unchanged for the third consecutive time, in the range of 4.25% – 4.50%
Although this cut was widely expected at the time by the markets, the chairman of the central bank, Jerome Powell, warned that Donald Trump's tariff policies "are still evolving and their effects on the economy remain very uncertain," which has led monetary authorities to act with greater caution than the markets expected.
At that time, Powell said that if the significant tariff increases announced are maintained, "it is likely to generate an increase in inflation, a slowdown in economic growth, and an increase in unemployment."
Still, he nuanced: the "shock" of tariffs is a concern that has affected consumer and business confidence, but has not yet materialized in economic data. And while he said that uncertainty is "extremely high," he insisted that "there is no rush" to make adjustments to the monetary policy rate.
With this outlook, investors will seek more clues in the minutes that will help clarify the FOMC's stance and gain more clarity on the path that authorities will take with the upcoming interest rate cuts, in an environment of high financial volatility, uncertainty, and fear about the economic impact of the trade war initiated by Trump.
This will be a new entry for U.S. companies into cryptocurrencies.
How much will it rise?