April 29–30, 2014 FOMC Minutes

Against the statement·Vote·From the minutes·What changed

Our reading

The minutes read consistent with the statement because both documents reflect the same key assessments and decisions: economic growth picked up after a winter slowdown, labor market indicators were mixed but improved, inflation remained below the 2% objective, and the FOMC decided to reduce asset purchases by $10 billion per month (from $25B to $20B in MBS and from $30B to $25B in Treasuries) while maintaining the federal funds rate target range and forward guidance. The minutes elaborate on participants' detailed views and discussions, but they align with the statement's summary of the economic outlook, policy action, and rationale.

Dovish

Minutes

Statement

Hawkish

Our reading compares the minutes of the April 29–30 FOMC meeting with the FOMC statement issued at the end of that meeting, three weeks before the minutes were published.

Vote

William C. Dudley
Richard W. Fisher
Narayana Kocherlakota
Sandra Pianalto
Charles I. Plosser
Jerome H. Powell
Jeremy C. Stein
Daniel K. Tarullo
Janet L. Yellen

From the minutes

FOMC minutes

When the Committee decides to begin to remove policy accommodation, it will take a balanced approach consistent with its longer-run goals of maximum employment and inflation of 2 percent. The Committee currently anticipates that, even after employment and inflation are near mandate-consistent levels, economic conditions may, for some time, warrant keeping the target federal funds rate below levels the Committee views as normal in the longer run."

Voting for this action: Janet L. Yellen, William C. Dudley, Richard W. Fisher, Narayana Kocherlakota, Sandra Pianalto, Charles I. Plosser, Jerome H. Powell, Jeremy C. Stein, and Daniel K. Tarullo.

Voting against this action: None.

It was agreed that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on Tuesday-Wednesday, June 17-18, 2014. The meeting adjourned at 10:55 a.m. on April 30, 2014.

Read the full minutes

What changed from the previous meeting’s minutes

Asset purchase pace reduced to $25 billion Treasury and $20 billion mortgage-backed securities per month beginning in May.
Removed paragraph from March statement noting forward guidance change did not signal policy intention change.
Kocherlakota voted for the action, reversing his March dissent; vote was unanimous.
Statement changed "business fixed investment continued to advance" to "edged down."
Statement changed "household spending continued to advance" to "appears to be rising more quickly."
Added discussion of potential downside risks from China slowdown and Russia-Ukraine tensions.

Summary generated automatically from the two documents.

Source