June 14–15 · Published July 6, 2016
Statement·Presser·Minutes·Policy
JYJanet L. YellenJune 14–15, 2016 FOMC Minutes
Our reading
The minutes read consistent with the statement because they reflect the same key economic assessments and policy decisions, including the slowdown in labor market improvement, the pickup in economic growth, the below-target inflation, and the decision to maintain the federal funds rate at 1/4 to 1/2 percent, while also detailing the FOMC's discussion and rationale that align with the statement's forward guidance.
Our reading compares the minutes of the June 14–15 FOMC meeting with the FOMC statement issued at the end of that meeting, three weeks before the minutes were published.
Vote
- Lael Brainard
- James B. Bullard
- William C. Dudley
- Stanley Fischer
- Esther L. George
- Loretta J. Mester
- Jerome H. Powell
- Eric S. Rosengren
- Daniel K. Tarullo
- Janet L. Yellen
From the minutes
FOMC minutes
The Committee is maintaining its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from its holdings of agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities in agency mortgage-backed securities and of rolling over maturing Treasury securities at auction, and it anticipates doing so until normalization of the level of the federal funds rate is well under way. This policy, by keeping the Committee's holdings of longer-term securities at sizable levels, should help maintain accommodative financial conditions."
Voting for this action: Janet L. Yellen, William C. Dudley, Lael Brainard, James Bullard, Stanley Fischer, Esther L. George, Loretta J. Mester, Jerome H. Powell, Eric Rosengren, 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, July 26-27, 2016. The meeting adjourned at 10:30 a.m. on June 15, 2016.
What changed from the previous meeting’s minutes
- The April minutes noted one dissenting vote (Esther L. George); the June minutes recorded no dissents.
- The June minutes cited the upcoming U.K. referendum on EU membership as a reason to wait before raising rates; the April minutes did not mention it.
- The June minutes reported that market-based measures of inflation compensation declined over the intermeeting period; the April minutes said they remained low.
- The June minutes stated that job gains had diminished and the pace of labor market improvement had slowed; the April minutes described strong job gains and further improvement.
- The June minutes noted that growth in household spending had strengthened in recent months; the April minutes said it had moderated.
- The June minutes mentioned that the drag from net exports had lessened; the April minutes described net exports as soft.
Summary generated automatically from the two documents.