Some On FOMC Said More Stimulus Probably Will Be Needed A few Federal Reserve policy makers said the central bank will probably need to take more action to boost the labor market and meet its inflation target, according to minutes of their June meeting. “A few members expressed the view that further policy stimulus likely would be necessary to promote satisfactory growth in employment and to ensure that the inflation rate would be at the Committee’s goal,” according to the record of the Federal Open Market Committee’s June 19-20 gathering released today in Washington. Stocks fell as the report disappointed investors looking for a stronger signal that additional stimulus was likely. Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke last month said policy makers were prepared to “take additional steps” to boost the economy following their decision to extend the Operation Twist program aimed at lowering long-term interest rates. “The Fed is being cautious,” said Mark Vitner, senior economist at Wells Fargo Securities LLC in Charlotte, North Carolina. “We are not at the threshold yet to justify additional securities purchases and a further increase in the balance sheet. We have to wait for a more of a slowdown before the Fed will act.” The Standard & Poor’s 500 Index (SPX) fell as much as 0.6 percent after the release before closing 0.02 point lower at 1,341.45 at 4 p.m. in New York, posting a fifth-straight retreat. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 1.51 percent from 1.50 percent yesterday. Bond Purchases Two participants said additional bond purchases are appropriate, while two others said they would be warranted in the absence of “satisfactory progress” in cutting unemployment or if downside risks increase. FOMC members also said strains in global markets stemming from Europe’s debt crisis had increased since their April meeting, and that “U.S. fiscal policy would be more contractionary than anticipated.” The minutes also show policy makers considering the risk that further easing might pose. Some members of the committee noted that excessive purchase of Treasuries could “at some point, lead to deterioration in the functioning of the Treasury securities market that could undermine the intended effects of the policy.” Minutes of the meetings don’t identify participants by name and sometimes use qualitative terms to describe how many hold a certain view. “A few” means two or three, and “a number” means four or five, according to Roberto Perli, a former senior staff economist in the central banks’ division of monetary affairs, which drafts the language in the Fed’s communications.