September 19–20 · Published October 11, 2017
JYJanet L. YellenSeptember 19–20, 2017 FOMC Minutes
Our reading
The minutes read consistent with the statement because they reflect the same key decisions and economic assessments—such as maintaining the federal funds rate at 1 to 1-1/4 percent, initiating balance sheet normalization in October, and acknowledging that hurricanes would only temporarily affect inflation—while providing additional detail on the discussions and considerations behind those decisions.
Our reading compares the minutes of the September 19–20 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.7
It was agreed that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on Tuesday-Wednesday, October 31-November 1, 2017. The meeting adjourned at 10:05 a.m. on September 20, 2017.
What changed from the previous meeting’s minutes
- Participants noted hurricane-related disruptions and rebuilding would affect near-term activity, absent in previous minutes.
- Minutes added that storm effects would temporarily boost inflation via gasoline and other prices.
- The September statement referenced hurricanes' unlikely material medium-term economic impact, a new consideration.
- The prior minutes' discussion of low inflation persistence was supplemented with storm-related interpretation complications.
- The new minutes noted the unemployment rate stayed low, with job gains solid, consistent with prior but rephrased.
Summary generated automatically from the two documents.