Federal Reserve meeting minutes: consumer spending rebounds, business uncertainty

Fed officials noted a rebound in consumer spending at a July monetary policy meeting, but reiterated that the path of economic recovery will depend on how the epidemic is controlled. The minutes of the July 28-29 monetary policy meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) released on Wednesday showed that “members believe that the continuing public health crisis will seriously affect economic activity, employment and inflation in the short term, and pose a considerable risk to the economic outlook in the medium term. Participants found little improvement in the business sector in recent months, with business contacts in their respective Federal Reserve jurisdictions continuing to report unusually high levels of uncertainty and risk factors. “. Federal Reserve officials kept interest rates near zero at their July meeting and continued to buy Treasury and mortgage-backed bonds at about $120 billion a month. At a news conference after the July monetary policy meeting, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the path of economic development was “extremely uncertain” and would depend on how the virus was contained. The results are mixed, with rising infection rates in several U.S. states, which could weaken the recovery.