July 30–31 · Published August 21, 2024
Jerome H. Powell
July 30–31, 2024 FOMC Minutes
Our reading
The minutes are more dovish because they reveal that several participants supported a rate cut at this meeting and that the vast majority believed easing would likely be appropriate at the next meeting if data continued as expected, whereas the statement only notes the decision to hold rates and the need for greater confidence before cutting.
Our reading compares the minutes of the July 30–31 FOMC meeting with the FOMC statement issued at the end of that meeting, three weeks before the minutes were published.
Vote
- Thomas I. Barkin
- Michael S. Barr
- Raphael W. Bostic
- Michelle W. Bowman
- Lisa D. Cook
- Mary C. Daly
- Austan D. Goolsbee
- Philip N. Jefferson
- Adriana D. Kugler
- Jerome H. Powell
- Christopher J. Waller
- John C. Williams
From the minutes
FOMC minutes
Voting against this action: None.
Austan D. Goolsbee voted as an alternate member at this meeting.
Consistent with the Committee's decision to leave the target range for the federal funds rate unchanged, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System voted unanimously to maintain the interest rate paid on reserve balances at 5.4 percent, effective August 1, 2024. The Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System voted unanimously to approve the establishment of the primary credit rate at the existing level of 5.5 percent, effective August 1, 2024.
It was agreed that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on Tuesday–Wednesday, September 17–18, 2024. The meeting adjourned at 10:10 a.m. on July 31, 2024.
What changed from the previous meeting’s minutes
- Participants noted upside risks to inflation had diminished and downside risks to employment had increased.
- Several participants saw a plausible case for reducing the target range by 25 basis points at this meeting.
- The vast majority observed it would likely be appropriate to ease policy at the next meeting if data came in as expected.
- Members agreed to state that job gains had moderated and the unemployment rate had moved up but remained low.
- Members agreed to state the FOMC is attentive to risks to both sides of its dual mandate.
- Austan D. Goolsbee replaced Loretta J. Mester as a voting member.
Summary generated automatically from the two documents.