FOMC Minutes Show No Real Sign of QE3

The Federal Reserve Open Market Committee has just released the minutes from its June FOMC Meeting and investors are going to take the news as a disappointment if they were hoping for more quantitative easing measures.  Even Bill Gross of the might PIMCO is talking down the economy more than what the FOMC Minutes are showing.

The FOMC minutes show that more and more Fed Governors are expecting rates to remain exceptionally low through 2014 or even longer. The minutes acknowledge that jobs and growth have been slowing.  Inflationary pressures were noticed as slowing as well: “Consumer price inflation declined, primarily reflecting reductions in the prices of crude oil and gasoline, and measures of long-run inflation expectations continued to be stable.”

The minutes also signal that addressing the fiscal cliff and the deficit plan would help businesses and job-seekers. Gee, really?

The minutes keep talking about data that we now know has started to sag even further and it will be interesting to see how the next comments treat the slowing economy and weaker labor market.

Here are the FULL MINUTES from the June 19 to June 20 FOMC Meeting.

JON C. OGG