Interest Rates

The minutes — from the FOMC’s January 28-29 meeting — were seen as supportive of loose monetary policy. Stocks and futures rallied as a result.

Several Fed policymakers provided commentary on the Coronavirus outbreak that — at the time — was mostly contained to mainland China. Fed President Patrick Harker stated, “if the situation gets significantly worse, and we start to see a significant impact on the U.S. economy, then we’d have to think about accommodation.” Fed Chair Jerome Powell said that the Fed would act “as appropriate.”