MNI BRIEF: Fed Minutes Show Bullish Tilt But No Taper Mention

Federal Reserve officials were becoming more optimistic about the economic outlook because of vaccine rollouts but not ready to start debating the timing of a reduction in its monthly USD120 billion bond buys, minutes from the January meeting released Wednesday showed.

The Fed has stated it wants to see substantial further progress toward its goals before tapering its asset purchases, and "participants judged that it was likely to take some time for substantial further progress to be achieved."

Still, the Fed said "in light of the expected progress on vaccinations and the change in the outlook for fiscal policy, the medium-term prospects for the economy had improved enough that members decided that the reference in previous post-meeting statements to risks to the economic outlook over the medium term was no longer warranted."