FOMC statement of March 15, 2017
This statement of the Federal Open Market Committee, compared sentence by sentence with the scheduled statement before it: what changed in the text, and how the Committee voted.
In short
The Federal Open Market Committee released this statement on March 15, 2017. Compared with the previous scheduled statement of February 1, 2017: 9 sentences changed, 2 were added, 2 were removed, and 8 stayed the same. In words: 77 added, 53 removed. The vote on this statement: 1 member voted against: Neel Kashkari. On the February 1, 2017 statement: Unanimous.
FOMC statement · March 15, 2017
Changed sentences against the previous scheduled statement (February 1, 2017)
8 unchanged · 9 changed · 2 added · 2 removed · words +77 / −53
- February 1, 2017
- Unanimous.
- March 15, 2017
- 1 member voted against: Neel Kashkari.
Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in December February indicates that the labor market has continued to strengthen and that economic activity has continued to expand at a moderate pace.
Job gains remained solid and the unemployment rate stayed near its was little changed in recent low months.
Household spending has continued to rise moderately while business fixed investment has remained soft appears to have firmed somewhat.
Measures of consumer and business sentiment have improved of late.
Inflation increased in recent quarters but is still below the Committee's 2 percent longer-run objective.
Inflation has increased in recent quarters, moving close to the Committee's 2 percent longer-run objective; excluding energy and food prices, inflation was little changed and continued to run somewhat below 2 percent.
Market-based measures of inflation compensation remain low; most survey-based measures of longer-term inflation expectations are little changed, on balance.
The Committee expects that, with gradual adjustments in the stance of monetary policy, economic activity will expand at a moderate pace, labor market conditions will strengthen somewhat further, and inflation will rise to stabilize around 2 percent over the medium term.
In view of realized and expected labor market conditions and inflation, the Committee decided to maintain raise the target range for the federal funds rate at 1/2 to 3/4 to 1 percent.
The stance of monetary policy remains accommodative, thereby supporting some further strengthening in labor market conditions and a sustained return to 2 percent inflation.
In light of the current shortfall of inflation from 2 percent, The Committee will carefully monitor actual and expected progress toward inflation developments relative to its symmetric inflation goal.
The Committee expects that economic conditions will evolve in a manner that will warrant only gradual increases in the federal funds rate; the federal funds rate is likely to remain, for some time, below levels that are expected to prevail in the longer run.
Voting against the action was Neel Kashkari, who preferred at this meeting to maintain the existing target range for the federal funds rate.
Show the 8 unchanged sentences
Consistent with its statutory mandate, the Committee seeks to foster maximum employment and price stability.
Near-term risks to the economic outlook appear roughly balanced.
The Committee continues to closely monitor inflation indicators and global economic and financial developments.
In determining the timing and size of future adjustments to the target range for the federal funds rate, the Committee will assess realized and expected economic conditions relative to its objectives of maximum employment and 2 percent inflation.
This assessment will take into account a wide range of information, including measures of labor market conditions, indicators of inflation pressures and inflation expectations, and readings on financial and international developments.
However, the actual path of the federal funds rate will depend on the economic outlook as informed by incoming data.
The Committee is maintaining its existing policy of reinvesting principal payments from its holdings of agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities in agency mortgage-backed securities and of rolling over maturing Treasury securities at auction, and it anticipates doing so until normalization of the level of the federal funds rate is well under way.
This policy, by keeping the Committee's holdings of longer-term securities at sizable levels, should help maintain accommodative financial conditions.
Source: Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System — the statement on federalreserve.gov · February 1, 2017
How to read this page
The page sets this statement of the Federal Open Market Committee next to the scheduled statement before it, sentence by sentence. The Fed’s sentences are shown as published, in English.
In a changed sentence, the words that were dropped are struck through and the new words are underlined. A sentence found only in the newer statement is marked as added; one found only in the older statement, as removed. Sentences that did not change are collapsed.
The counts say how many sentences fall into each of those groups, and how many words were added and removed. They count edits; they do not weigh them.
The vote lines show how the Committee voted on each statement and who voted against, as the statement itself reports it.
The comparison is made by a fixed rule, not by a model, and it reads nothing into the text.
The Fed’s text is shown in its original English and is not translated. This page only shows what changed in the text; it is not a reading of direction, tone or risk, and it is not part of the MVIE score. MVIE Pro is independent research and is not affiliated with the Federal Reserve.