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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| US rate rise conditions 'approaching', Fed minutes show | US rate rise conditions 'approaching', Fed minutes show |
| (34 minutes later) | |
| Federal Reserve policymakers thought conditions for a US rate rise "were approaching" when it met last month, but that the economy was not ready yet. | Federal Reserve policymakers thought conditions for a US rate rise "were approaching" when it met last month, but that the economy was not ready yet. |
| Minutes from the Fed's meeting on 28-29 July show one policymaker was ready to vote for a rate rise at the meeting. | Minutes from the Fed's meeting on 28-29 July show one policymaker was ready to vote for a rate rise at the meeting. |
| However, other policymakers remained concerned that inflation would remain weak because of the strong dollar and falling commodity prices. | However, other policymakers remained concerned that inflation would remain weak because of the strong dollar and falling commodity prices. |
| The Fed's key interest rate has been kept near zero since December 2008. | The Fed's key interest rate has been kept near zero since December 2008. |
| There has been speculation that the Fed will raise rates at its meeting in September. | There has been speculation that the Fed will raise rates at its meeting in September. |
| Inflation focus | |
| The minutes from the Federal Open Market Committee's (FOMC) July meeting said: "Most judged that the conditions for policy firming had not yet been achieved, but they noted that conditions were approaching that point." | |
| The committee noted that the labour market "had continued to improve, with solid job gains and declining unemployment". | |
| However, when assessing inflation, it said that "some members continued to see downside risks to inflation from the possibility of further dollar appreciation and declines in commodity prices". | |
| The FOMC said it would continue to monitor inflation "closely, with almost all members indicating that they would need to see more evidence that economic growth was sufficiently strong and labour market conditions had firmed enough for them to feel reasonably confident that inflation would return to the committee's longer-run objective over the medium term". | |
| The Fed's target for inflation is 2%. Inflation figures released earlier on Wednesday showed that consumer prices rose by 0.1% in July, and are 0.2% higher from a year ago. | |
| So-called core CPI, which ignores changes in food and energy prices, also rose 0.1% last month, but was up 1.8% over the year. |