Minutes provide little information on the September monetary policy decision as said by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), rate hike options will remain data dependent. However, the minutes showed a slight tightening trend.
The Federal Reserve's aggressive monetary policy tightening is the biggest drag on gold and precious metals. The FOMC minutes also show that the Committee remains focused on inflation. Some participants said interest rates need to go higher to bring consumer prices back to the central bank's 2% target.
"Participants emphasized that the Committee would need to see more data on inflation and other signs that aggregate demand and aggregate supply are moving into better equilibrium. Thereby, confident that inflationary pressures inflation is falling and inflation should return to 2% over time," the minutes said.
Looking at economic activity, the minutes raised several points that economic risks have become more balanced. However, the minutes also mentioned several times that uncertainty about economic risks was highlighted as heightened.