WASHINGTON — Federal Reserve officials want to see more evidence the economy is in good health before they start to raise interest rates, according to an official account of the Fed’s most recent meeting released Wednesday. Officials at the July meeting of the Fed’s rate-setting committee expressed satisfaction with the improvement of labor market conditions, but they remained concerned about the persistent sluggishness of inflation, according to the meeting minutes. Consumer prices rose just 0.2 percent over the 12 months ending in July, according to a separate government report also published Wednesday, well below the 2 percent annual pace the Fed considers healthy. The detailed account closely resembled the short statement the Fed released immediately after the July meeting, adding yet more weight to the expectation that the Fed will raise rates this year, perhaps at the next meeting of the policymaking committee in mid-September. “Many members thought that labor market underutilization would be largely eliminated in the near term if economic activity evolved as they expected,” the minutes said, referring to the 10 voting members of the policy committee. The minutes also described some Fed officials as pressing the argument that the economy’s cumulative progress since the recession is now sufficient that the decision to start raising interest rates should not turn on the details of the latest batch of economic data.
Comment on Fed minutes show caution in discussion on rates
New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle: Business
Wed, 08/19/2015 - 3:21pm
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