Fed Emphasizes Flexible Policy Path After Likely December Hike

Federal Reserve officials signaled they’re adopting a more flexible approach in their gradual interest-rate increases after a likely December hike, as they try to sustain a U.S. expansion that may become the longest on record next year.

“Almost all participants expressed the view that another increase in the target range for the federal funds rate was likely to be warranted fairly soon,’’ assuming the economy performs in line or stronger than their expectations, the central bank said in the minutes of its Nov. 7-8 session released in Washington Thursday.

Officials also said that their post-meeting statement may need to be modified at coming meetings, “particularly the language referring to the committee’s expectations for ‘further gradual increases,”’ the minutes said.

The minutes reinforce comments by Chairman Jerome Powell on Wednesday that suggested central bankers are getting close to an estimated range of interest rates that neither speed up nor slow down growth and are now adopting a flexible approach to their policy path. Those remarks sparked a rally in stock and bond markets, while sending the dollar lower.

Equities erased earlier declines after the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee gathering were released, while the yield on the 10-year Treasury note was around 3.03 percent, holding its decline from earlier. The S&P 500 Index advanced for a fourth straight day, trading 0.4 percent higher at 3:04 p.m. New York time.