Debate over Fed rate hikes evolving - WSJ

FXStreet (Bali) - According to an article from WSJ's Hilsenrath, titled 'Fed puts rate increase on the radar', the Fed-watcher notes "the possibility of interest-rate increases in the near future."

Key Quotes from the WSJ article

Conversation at the Federal Reserve's most recent policy meeting turned to something that hasn't been a serious topic for years: the possibility of interest-rate increases in the near future.

A "few" Fed officials argued at a Jan. 28-29 policy meeting that increases might be needed soon to prevent the economy from overheating, according to minutes of the meeting released Wednesday. These officials were most likely from the Fed's band of policy "hawks" ...

The fact that the subject came up at all in January shows how the central bank's policy debate is slowly and subtly evolving and might offer the first glimmers on a distant horizon of a Fed move.

The minutes don't name individuals or say how many took this position, but it does describe their arguments. The officials argued that rules of thumb used by the Fed in the past, which prescribe an interest rate based on movements in the unemployment rate and inflation or economic output and inflation, point to the need for higher rates

The argument was largely dismissed by other officials. Such prescriptions "were not appropriate in current circumstances," others argued, because the economy is still emerging from an economic crisis