May 18 · Published July 1, 1999
Statement·Presser·Minutes
AGAlan GreenspanMay 18, 1999 FOMC Minutes
Our reading
The minutes read more hawkish because they detail the FOMC's internal deliberations, revealing a significant increase in concerns about inflation risks and a consensus that the balance of risks had shifted toward tightening, whereas the statement only briefly mentions the adoption of a "tilted" directive without elaborating on the depth of those concerns or the rationale behind the shift.
Our reading compares the minutes of the May 18 FOMC meeting with the FOMC statement issued at the end of that meeting, three weeks before the minutes were published.
Vote
- Boehne
- Roger W. Ferguson, Jr.
- Edward M. Gramlich
- Alan Greenspan
- Edward W. Kelley, Jr.
- William J. McDonough
- Robert D. McTeer, Jr.
- Laurence H. Meyer
- Michael H. Moskow
- Alice M. Rivlin
- Stern
From the minutes
FOMC minutes
It was agreed that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on Tuesday-Wednesday, June 29-30, 1999.
The meeting adjourned at 12:45 p.m.
Donald L. Kohn
Secretary
What changed from the previous meeting’s minutes
- Directive shifted from symmetric to asymmetric with tightening bias.
- Dollar depreciated over intermeeting period instead of appreciating.
- Treasury yields rose appreciably, concentrated in intermediate and long maturities.
- Equity prices recorded sizable gains instead of mixed changes.
- Members saw greater risk of rising inflation than at previous meeting.
- Next meeting scheduled for June 29-30 instead of May 18.
Summary generated automatically from the two documents.