Federal Reserve officials reacted with growing distress to the economic implications of the coronavirus pandemic last month, which sent unemployment soaring and froze swaths of commercial activity.
The central bank on Wednesday released minutes of its April 28-29 meeting, at which officials affirmed plans to maintain interest rates near zero until they are confident the economy is on track for inflation to rise to their 2% target and for unemployment to fall to the low levels that preceded the pandemic.
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