Fed Minutes Show Confidence On U.S. Recovery, Anxiety Over Europe

(RTTNews) - The minutes of the December meeting of the Federal Reserve showed policy makers are concerned about the diverging outlooks between the U.S. and the rest of the world.

On the one hand, the Fed expects the expects the recent dramatic drop in oil prices will probably end up boosting U.S. growth.

Some members even predicted a "quite large" uptick in consumer spending thanks in part to sudden relief at the gas pump.

That could mean interest rates will rise on schedule sometime around the middle of the year as the U.S. recovery gathers steam.

However, the Fed remains concerned about the health of the global economy, and even prodded other central banks about their reluctance to offer adequate stimulus.

"A further deterioration in the foreign economic situation could result in slower domestic economic growth than they currently expected," the minutes said.

Risks to the global economy were seen "if foreign policy responses were insufficient," as markets have "expectations of monetary policy actions in Europe and Japan."