July 25–26 · Published August 16, 2017
Statement·Presser·Minutes
JYJanet L. YellenJuly 25–26, 2017 FOMC Minutes
Our reading
The minutes are consistent with the statement because both documents reflect the same key economic assessments and policy decisions: they acknowledge continued labor market strength and moderate economic growth, note that inflation is running below 2 percent, and confirm the decision to maintain the federal funds rate target range at 1 to 1-1/4 percent while signaling that the balance sheet normalization program would begin "relatively soon." The minutes provide additional detail and discussion on inflation risks, financial conditions, and the timing of policy actions, but these elaborations do not contradict the statement—they expand upon the same themes and support the same conclusions.
Our reading compares the minutes of the July 25–26 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
- Patrick Harker
- Robert S. Kaplan
- Neel Kashkari
- Jerome H. Powell
- Janet L. Yellen
From the minutes
FOMC minutes
Voting for this action: Janet L. Yellen, William C. Dudley, Lael Brainard, Charles L. Evans, Stanley Fischer, Patrick Harker, Robert S. Kaplan, Neel Kashkari, and Jerome H. Powell.
Voting against this action: None.
Consistent with the Committee's decision to leave the target range for the federal funds rate unchanged, the Board of Governors voted unanimously to leave the interest rates on required and excess reserve balances unchanged at 1-1/4 percent and voted unanimously to approve establishment of the primary credit rate (discount rate) at the existing level of 1-3/4 percent.4
It was agreed that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on Tuesday-Wednesday, September 19-20, 2017. The meeting adjourned at 10:00 a.m. on July 26, 2017.
What changed from the previous meeting’s minutes
- The FOMC voted unanimously to maintain the federal funds rate at 1 to 1-1/4 percent, after raising it 25 basis points in June.
- Neel Kashkari voted with the majority in July, having dissented in June against the rate increase.
- The July statement changed the balance sheet normalization start from "this year" to "relatively soon."
- Several participants in July preferred to defer announcing a balance sheet start date, while June had several preferring to start within a couple of months.
- July minutes noted some participants saw inflation risks tilted to the downside, a shift from June's roughly balanced inflation outlook.
- July discussion added concerns about smaller banks' commercial real estate lending and multifamily price increases as financial stability risks.
Summary generated automatically from the two documents.