Fed minutes showed : Skipping a rate hike in June allows time to assess the economy's progress

"Almost all participants saw it appropriate or acceptable to maintain the federal funds rate at the current 5% to the current 5.25%, and most of these participants noted that leaving the target range unchanged at this meeting would allow them more time to assess the economy's progress toward a reset," the Fed minutes said. Inflation to 2% from its current level is more than double that.

Officials added that deep uncertainty remains over whether the Fed has actually raised interest rates enough to tame inflation and just needs to wait for the effect of the tightening policy to materialize or still needs to lean on the economy more. The minutes stated that "most of the participants noted that uncertainty about the future of the economy and inflation remains high and that additional information would be valuable to consider the appropriate stance of monetary policy."