According to the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting from October 31 to November 1 released by the Federal Reserve, participants discussed the development of financial markets, expectations for monetary policy, and the development of the currency market. The minutes pointed out that participants believed that in order to achieve maximum employment and maintain a 2% inflation rate in the long term, they agreed to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 5.25% to 5.5%. All FOMC members agreed to "act cautiously" on interest rate issues and unanimously believed that it was appropriate to maintain a restrictive monetary policy for a period of time until inflation clearly declines towards the target. If the information received suggests that progress towards the inflation target is insufficient, it would be appropriate to further tighten monetary policy. Nick Timiraos, a journalist known as the "Fed's mouthpiece" and the "new Fed news agency," commented that when the recent decision to pause interest rate hikes was made, Fed officials were reluctant to conclude that they had completed interest rate hikes. However, the minutes suggest that officials may be willing to keep rates unchanged at least for this year. (Wall Street News)