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Minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee June 16-17 2015

“The information reviewed for the June 16-17 meeting suggested that real gross domestic product (GDP) was increasing moderately in the second quarter after edging down in the first quarter. Labor market conditions improved somewhat further in recent months. Consumer price inflation continued to run below the FOMC’s longer-run objective of 2 percent and was restrained significantly by earlier declines in energy prices and decreases in prices of non-energy imports. Survey measures of longer‑run inflation expectations remained stable, while market-based measures of inflation compensation were still low. Total nonfarm payroll employment expanded at a faster pace in April and May than in the first quarter. The unemployment rate was 5.5 percent in May, about the same as its first-quarter average. The labor force participation rate and the employment-to-population ratio rose a bit over April and May, and the share of workers employed part time for economic reasons edged down on net. The rate of private-sector job openings moved up a little, on balance, in March and April, while the rates of hiring and quits were essentially unchanged. Industrial production decreased during April and May after declining in the first quarter. The output of both the manufacturing and mining sectors fell over the past two months, likely reflecting the continuing effects of earlier increases in the foreign exchange value of the dollar and lower crude oil prices. Automakers’ assembly schedules suggested that light motor vehicle production would increase at a solid pace in the near term, but broader indicators of manufacturing production, such as the readings on new orders from national and regional manufacturing surveys, generally pointed to modest gains in factory output in the coming months…”

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