The Federal Open Market Committee, the policy making arm of the Federal Reserve, expressed concern over global economic and financial developments, saying at their last committee meeting they continued to pose risks.
"Participants generally saw global economic and financial developments as continuing to pose risks to the outlook for economic activity and the labor market in the United States," the minutes from the committee’s meeting on March 15 and 16 read. "Financial markets were turbulent over the first month and a half of the year, apparently reflecting investors’ concerns about global growth prospects and associated risks to the U.S. outlook."
Participants of the committee said that financial market and global economic conditions were reasons for a "downward tilt to their perceptions on the risks to growth."
The committee evaluates economic data to see if improvement has been made towards its two goals of maximum employment and inflation rising to its 2 percent objective when deciding whether to raise the federal funds rate. The committee decided to keep rates at a quarter of a percentage point at their March meeting instead of raising them further.
"The committee expected that economic conditions would evolve in a manner that would warrant only gradual increases in the federal funds rate, and that the federal funds rate was likely to remain, for some time, below levels that were expected to prevail in the longer run," the minutes state.