Federal Reserve may need to hike rates faster, reduce balance sheet quickly

The minutes, which were released on Wednesday, offered more details on the Fed's shift last month towards a more hawkish monetary policy.

Federal Reserve officials said last month that the U.S. labor market was "very tight" and might need the U.S. central bank not just to raise interest rates sooner than expected but also reduce its overall asset holdings to tame high inflation, according to minutes of their Dec. 14-15 policy meeting.

"Participants generally noted ... it may become warranted to increase the federal funds rate sooner or at a faster pace than participants had earlier anticipated. Some participants also noted that it could be appropriate to begin to reduce the size of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet relatively soon after beginning