October 28–29 · Published November 19, 2008
Statement·Presser·Minutes
BBBen S. BernankeOctober 28–29, 2008 FOMC Minutes
Our reading
The minutes read consistent with the statement because they record the FOMC's decision to lower the federal funds rate by 50 basis points to 1 percent, as stated in the official statement, and include the full text of that statement in the minutes.
Dovish
Hawkish
Minutes
Statement
Our reading compares the minutes of the October 28–29 FOMC meeting with the FOMC statement issued at the end of that meeting, three weeks before the minutes were published.
Vote
- Ben S. Bernanke
- Elizabeth A. Duke
- Richard W. Fisher
- Timothy F. Geithner
- Donald L. Kohn
- Randall S. Kroszner
- Sandra Pianalto
- Charles I. Plosser
- Stern
- Kevin Warsh
From the minutes
FOMC minutes
_____________________________
Brian F. Madigan
Secretary
1. Attended Wednesday's session only. Return to text
What changed from the previous meeting’s minutes
- The federal funds rate target was lowered from 2 percent to 1 percent.
- The policy directive changed from maintaining the rate to reducing it to around 1 percent.
- The FOMC held two conference calls on September 29 and October 7, 2008.
- Swap arrangements with foreign central banks were extended and enlarged on September 29.
- The October 7 call coordinated a rate cut with several foreign central banks.
- The next meeting was moved from October 28-29 to December 16, 2008.
Summary generated automatically from the two documents.