Federal Reserve officials in their July discussions appeared to move closer to their first interest rate hike in almost a decade but expressed wide-ranging concerns about wages, inflation and a significant slowdown in China. Rates on loans throughout the economy could eventually rise as well.

As there is no Fed policy meeting in August, the Wall Street kept a close eye on the Fed minutes. Several committee members pointed to strong jobs growth in recent months.

Others think a rate hike may not even come this year.

The reason is inflation, or more pertinently, the lack thereof. Too-low inflation also makes the inflation-adjusted cost of loans more expensive.

U.S. crude oil inventories rose and gasoline stocks fell last week as crude imports surged while refineries cut runs during the summer driving demand season, data from the Energy Information Administration (EIA) showed on Wednesday. “The economy is nearing full employment, productivity has stalled, yet inflation shows no signs of taking off”. With oil tumbling to 2009 levels and China devaluing its currency, the outlook for quicker inflation looks bleak, threatening Fed plans to raise its target rate from near zero as soon as next month.

In the minutes from the July meeting, it was revealed that most members of the FOMC “judged that the conditions for policy firming had not yet been achieved, but they noted conditions were approaching that point”.

US stocks tumbled as Treasuries posted their biggest weekly gain since March.

A series of mixed US economic indicators since the meeting has clouded the outlook for a rate hike. It was last at 123.935.

Gold futures on the COMEX division of the New York Mercantile Exchange rose ahead of the release of the minutes from a US Federal Reserve meeting. That would be a boon for U.S. motorists. It was the prospect of a government shutdown and standoff over the debt limit in 2013 that led the Fed to delay a cutback in its bond purchases. “Unfortunately, if those assumptions are wrong, then by next summer the funds rate could be at 1 to 1-1/2% before it’s clear they’ve made a mistake”.

With a September rate hike looking unlikely, some were expecting to see a lift in U.S. equity markets.

“The reason behind the Fed not raising rates is due to problems in the emerging markets”, said Aslam. “But with commodity prices as low as they are, it could give the Fed pause”, said Alan Rechtschaffen, of UBS.

The minutes said Fed officials believed using the median for each forecast would provide a “more robust summary” of where most officials believe the economy is headed.