April 28–29 · Published May 20, 2015
Statement·Presser·Minutes
JYJanet L. YellenApril 28–29, 2015 FOMC Minutes
Our reading
The minutes are consistent with the statement because they reflect the same key assessments and policy decisions, including the acknowledgment of slowed economic growth due to transitory factors, the moderation in job gains with steady unemployment, the expectation of moderate growth with appropriate policy accommodation, the anticipation of inflation rising gradually toward 2 percent, and the reaffirmation of maintaining the federal funds rate target range at 0 to 1/4 percent.
Our reading compares the minutes of the April 28–29 FOMC meeting with the FOMC statement issued at the end of that meeting, three weeks before the minutes were published.
Vote
- Lael Brainard
- William C. Dudley
- Charles L. Evans
- Stanley Fischer
- Jeffrey M. Lacker
- Dennis P. Lockhart
- Jerome H. Powell
- Daniel K. Tarullo
- John C. Williams
- 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, Lael Brainard, Charles L. Evans, Stanley Fischer, Jeffrey M. Lacker, Dennis P. Lockhart, Jerome H. Powell, Daniel K. Tarullo, and John C. Williams.
Voting against this action: None.
It was agreed that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on Tuesday-Wednesday, June 16-17, 2015. The meeting adjourned at 11:00 a.m. on April 29, 2015.
What changed from the previous meeting’s minutes
- Participants shifted from seeing broad-based labor market improvement to judging the pace of improvement had slowed.
- The March statement removed "patient" forward guidance; April statement retained the new guidance without further changes.
- April minutes added discussion of risks from low term premiums and potential sharp rises in longer-term interest rates.
- April minutes introduced discussion of equilibrium real federal funds rate estimates being unusually low.
- One participant suggested discussing raising the 2 percent longer-run inflation objective in April, absent in March.
- April statement noted economic growth slowed during winter months, partly reflecting transitory factors, replacing March's "moderated somewhat."
Summary generated automatically from the two documents.