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Welcome, 77 artists, 40 different points of Attica welcomes you by singing Erotokritos an epic romance written at 1713 by Vitsentzos Kornaros

Wednesday, July 8, 2015

NYSE BLACKS OUT, STOCKS SLAMMED: Here's what you need to know (SPY, DJI, IXIC, USO, WTI, OIL, VDE, GREK, EUR, USD, TLT, TSLA, AA)

The US stock market saw its biggest disruption in two years on Wednesday when trading on the New York Stock Exchange was halted for over 3 hours due to a technical issue. Stocks had opened in the red but drifted to the lows of the day during the halt. First, the scoreboard: Dow: 17,521.03, -255.88, (-1.44%) S&P 500: 2,046.97, -34.37, (-1.65%) Nasdaq: 4,907.95, -89.51, (-1.79%) And now, the top stories on Wednesday: Trading stopped on the New York Stock Exchange for nearly three hours, starting at 11:32 a.m. ET. The NYSE said this error was due to an internal technical issue, and not a cyber breach. To avoid more widespread problems, it shut down trading. NYSE-listed stocks continued to change hands on other venues during the halt. According to Eric Hunsader, CEO of market research firm Nanex, trades from the NYSE dropped before the halt, sputtered, and then eventually stopped. The SEC, Treasury, and the White House are all looking into what went wrong. The FOMC released minutes of its June meeting, which showed that it is set to raise rates this year, but Greece is a concern. The meeting was held before things started getting chaotic in Greece. Here's the key portion of the minutes: "[M]any participants expressed concern that a failure of Greece and its official creditors to resolve their differences could result in disruptions in financial markets in the euro area, with possible spillover effects on the United States." After this meeting, the Fed kept rates unchanged, as expected. Greece has applied for a three-year loan to prevent bankruptcy. According to Reuters, Greek prime minister Alexis Tsipras asked for a fair deal in a speech to the European Parliament. Capital controls have been extended, and banks are expected to remain closed through the week. US crude oil inventories rose for a second straight week. The latest data from the Energy Information Administration showed that commercial crude inventories rose by 384,000 barrels in the week ending July 3. This brought the total number of barrels in storage to 466 million, still at the highest level for this time of year in about 80 years. After the release, West Texas Intermediate crude oil fell more than 2% to as low as $50.95 per barrel. Iron ore had its biggest daily drop ever. The spot price for 62% fines fell more than 10% on concerns of oversupply and slowing Chinese demand. Consumer credit rose by $16.1 billion in May, down from $21.4 billion in April and below the $18.5 billion that was expected.  Tesla shares got their third analyst downgrade in a few days. In a note released Wednesday, Pacific Crest's Brad Erickson downgraded his rating on the stock to "Sector Weight" from "Overweight," and pegged its fair value at $293. He echoed a point made by Deutsche Bank and Bank of America Merril Lynch analysts within the past week — Tesla's future success is already factored into its stock price.  Second quarter earnings season unofficially kicks off after the market close, with aluminum giant Alcoa reporting. Expectations are for adjusted earnings per share of $0.22 on revenues of $5.81 billion, according to Bloomberg. Analysts are not expecting S&P 500 earnings growth until Q4 2015, and no revenue growth until Q1 2016. DON'T MISS: We're about to find out just how bad corporate America's last 3 months really were »Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Here Are 5 Big Things Paul Krugman Says He Got Wrong Over The Years


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With eye on Greece, UK’s Osborne slashes welfare spending

British finance minister George Osborne said he would reshape the world's fifth-largest economy by chopping welfare but also announced a new national minimum wage in a budget that reflects an unexpectedly decisive election victory.


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Greek referendum: democracy at work or dangerous unilateralism?

#politics


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Stock trading closed on NYSE after glitch caused major outage – live updates

Wall Street trading ceased for more than three and a half hoursStoppage coincides with glitch at United Airlines and sharp global market fallsRead the latest report, the social media reaction ... and the dystopian aftermath 4.25pm ET No matter how bad a day today was for the tech developers at the NYSE, traders in China had a worse day as their stock market continued its three-week nosedive. They’ve also had a bit of fun at New York’s expense.Buzzfeed has collected and translated some of the better quips: 4.06pm ET The bells sound and the traders clap: it’s closing time on Wall Street after a three and a half hour outage blamed on technical problems.Although the NYSE was closed for half the day, trading continued through other venues, and the day of decline continued as concerns about the Chinese market and Greek debt influenced the market. 3.59pm ET Need more dystopia in your day of Wall Street semi-shutdowns? Molly Crabapple has your apocalyptic vision over at Comment is Free.Outside, I take in the scene: street preachers denouncing Gnosticism, a lone banker trying to garrote himself with ticket tape, and the Bull – that gold, beautiful bull – running through the streets like Zeus. I chase after it for a quote, but, like the dubious financial transactions powered by super-compressors, it is too quick.Smoke. Weeping. Screams. 3.44pm ET Four hours later and less than half an hour before closing time, the New York Stock Exchange announces that it’s back to business as usual.BREAKING: NYSE says "all systems are functioning normally" after trading resumed after 3+ hour trading halt » http://t.co/jvkuQmTVYV 3.33pm ET Market outages are neither uncommon nor much of a problem for investors, according to the Wall Street Journal, which has published a story about closures not long after the newspaper’s own site went down on Wednesday.No exchange has exclusive rights to trade any stock or exchange-traded fund, except during the opening and closing of trading. Apart from those brief periods, trading takes place at any of a dozen exchanges and more than 40 private trading venues, known as dark pools.Outages could hurt traders and investors if they have orders sitting on the order book of an exchange that has a problem. So if an institution has an offer at an exchange to buy 1,000 shares of Apple Inc at a certain price, and the market stops trading, it can cause uncertainty. Many firms use those final prices to mark the value of their portfolios and set risk parameters. Without those closing prices, they might be forced to use less-accurate prices, and that could affect other trading decisions.There is some precedent for resolving problems with the closing auctions. In November 2012, technical issues forced the NYSE to find an alternative when it couldn’t hold closing auctions for 216 stocks, according to a note put out by Credit Suisse trading researchers Wednesday afternoon. In that case, the NYSE determined a closing price by monitoring transactions at other venues. 3.17pm ET As the machines once again match bids and quotes, the stock exchange tweets its official blessing upon the markets. There’s no fanfare on the floor – just numbers gradually starting to change again on monitors and a little more activity among the traders.Trading on NYSE and NYSE MKT has resumed 3.11pm ET The New York Stock Exchange has returned to business after more than three and a half hours of an unexpected closure, which officials blamed on technical problems.The exchange closed at 11.32am ET and re-opened just under an hour before the close of markets at 4pm ET. 3.09pm ET “It was a mess from the open,” a broker has told Reuters, which runs down what happened this morning and the importance of closing time on Wall Street.Some of the internet ports to the NYSE would not connect, or would unexpectedly disconnect, and this was happening from before market opened until the halt, the broker said.The exchange does a lot of its business at the close of trading, and if it’s still down then, the problems could increase. 3.01pm ET “They don’t need human beings,” an options trader opines on the tech woes of Wall Street, in video shot by my colleague Jana Kasperkevic. 2.56pm ET Officials at the NYSE have just announced that they have a plan, CNBC reports.Officials have said they’re going to try to open the American Stock Exchange at 3.05pm ET and the New York Stock Exchange at 3.10pm ET, leaving just under an hour of trading if the gates re-open without a hitch. 2.47pm ET Does the automation of the stock market mean many more days of glitches, breaks and malfunctions interrupting the rivers of cash moving around the world? At least one trader foresees problems in the rise of the machines – but says that doesn’t mean the markets need people per se. My colleague Jana Kasperkevic (@kasperka) reports from outside the NYSE. Hours into the unexpected break in trading, an options trader who gave his name as Chris stepped outside to puff away on his e-cigarette, and eventually relented to questions about the hours-long break in trading.“We need better technology. I mean, this hasn’t happened ever on the New York Stock exchange, for what they say,” he said. “I’m in options. I am not on the equity floor. I have never seen this happen on the New York Stock exchange ever, where all symbols halt at the same time. 2.35pm ET Fortune Magazine has also postulated that a problem in a software update is what brought the NYSE to its knees – or at least froze it in place, since stocks are trading in other venues. (via @nicflatow).Eric Scott Hunsader, an expert in Wall Street trading systems who heads market data firm Nanex, said that it appears that a faulty system upgrade brought trading on the exchange to a halt. The NYSE has reportedly also told floor traders the exchange had to suspend trading due to an error with a systems upgrade that was rolled out before the market opened on Wednesday.If Fortune is right that a "systems upgrade" broke the NYSE, A) who makes that software B) is that company publicly traded C) can I short it 2.23pm ET Farley projected the NYSE to resume trading within the hour, which would give the exchange roughly an hour of running normally before the daily “close” of 4pm ET.Meanwhile the New York Times’ Nathaniel Popper reports that the NYSE had to manually cancel some 700,000 existing orders so that it could restart the exchange, citing a trader on the floor.Floor trader says the NYSE is rebooting its systems, which can take 45 minutes, and hopes everything is working when it's up again 2.14pm ET The NYSE will be up and running again before close today, president Thomas Farley has just told CNBC. “We identified the issue and we have that addressed,” he says, estimating between a return to business around 2.45-3pm. 2.04pm ET Guardian editors weigh in. Tech support from national security editor Spencer Ackerman.Have they tried turning the stock exchange off & turning it back on?#NYSE shutdown was it a) Time Warner Cable went down or b) Y2K?Was it the leap second that caused all this chaos? http://t.co/Lm5zinMB1e 1.58pm ET “At this point it’s unclear what kind of impact this particular glitch will have,” adds Earnest, to whom Guardian DC bureau chief Dan Roberts was also listening.Earnest says it’s “too early to offer an assessment [on any economic impact]” but said the Treasury department and Securities and Exchange Commission were closely monitoring the situation. 1.47pm ET President Barack Obama was briefed this morning on the suspension on Wall Street, White House press secretary Josh Earnest has just said during a press briefing.Earnest’s message (paraphrased): don’t panic.Obama briefed on NYSE outage by homeland security adviser Lisa Monaco who says 'no indication of malicious actors involved' says @PressSec 1.36pm ET Two hours into the stoppage, the apparent electronic glitch is not inspiring Wall Street about the quality of the exchange, Guardian US business editor Dominic Rushe (@dominicru) reports:Jack Ablin, chief investment officer of BMO Private Bank, said he initially worried that China’s woes had spread to the US when he heard the news and was relieved that it appeared to be a technical glitch. “That said it doesn’t add a lot of confidence in the markets when investors don’t have a lot to begin with,” he said.“At the NYSE this is a manual process,” said Sal Arnuk, a principal at Themis Trading. “Is the NYSE technologically the most (robust) exchange in the world? No. The fact of the matter is the different exchange operators have diverse standards, different architecture. Some of them are more legacy than others. This is to be expected from time to time.”According to the trader, the exchange said that the new software caused problems soon after trading began on Wednesday and the exchange decided to shut down trading all together to fix the problem. 1.25pm ET The exchange has been closed for more than an hour and a half now, since 11.32am. The longer it goes the more traders emerge to smoke, notes my colleague Jana Kasperkevic – but the traders are pretty insouciant about the break, at least so far.At about 1 pm – an hour and a half after the trading halted at 11.32am, one of the traders walked over to the barricades. He had been standing a few feet away in the comfortable shade of the building he works at. After a reporter beckoned him, he strolled over and other reporters flocked to him.“What? Do you want my autograph now?” he asked. “I can’t comment,” he said. 1.20pm ET Homeland Security secretary Jeh Johnson is delivering a speech on cybersecurity in Washington, and opened by saying the stoppage is not due to “nefarious actions”. The Guardian’s Ben Jacobs is listening in.Johnson: It appears that today we had a system malfunctions at United, the New York Stock Exchange and the Wall Street JournalJohnson says it appears that the malfunctions at United and NYSE was not the result of nefarious actions. We know less about the WSJ 1.16pm ET My colleague Jana Kasperkevic is on Wall Street, where the exchange looms up over the sidewalk. She reports:The New York State Exchange stand regal in the downtown Manhattan, one side of it draped in huge American flag. Even as tourists snap selfies and family portraits nearby, the building remains inaccessible as the traders who work on its floors are separated from the public by metal barricades. The exchange has claimed at least a ten-feet wide sidewalk, where traders can smoke in peace. And smoke they did on Wednesday. Bunch of tourists snapping selfies outside #nyse. Maybe it's the flag? pic.twitter.com/Na2BRR67Et 1.11pm ET A US official has told the Guardian that there is no indication anything that happened today was the result of any malicious actor, cyber attack, etc.The day is apparently full of coincidences of a technically glitchy nature, however. United Airlines grounded all US flights over computer issues earlier on Wednesday, telling my colleague Amanda Holpuch (@holpuch) the major delays were due to a “network connectivity issue”. The Wall Street Journal’s website also briefly shut down around midday.Wonder if tomorrow is going to be bad for Wall Street.... we can only hope. 12.54pm ET The NYSE has elaborated a bit on the closure, saying it was caused by “an internal technical issue and is not the result of a cyber breach”.A spokesperson for the NYSE released this statement: ““We’re currently experiencing a technical issue that we’re working to resolve as quickly as possible. We will be providing further updates as soon as we can, and are doing our utmost to produce a swift resolution, communicate thoroughly and transparently, and ensure a timely and orderly market re-open.”(2 of 3) We chose to suspend trading on NYSE to avoid problems arising from our technical issue.(3 of 3) NYSE-listed securities continue to trade unaffected on other market centers. 12.50pm ET The New York Stock Exchange unexpectedly stopped all trading at about 11.30am ET on Wednesday after a “major technical issue”.The NYSE’s website only reads: “Additional information will follow as soon as possible.” Continue reading...


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Greece's Referendum Was Still a Good Idea

After Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras called for Sunday's vote on whether Greece should accept the austerity measures its creditors are ...


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Why Europe Needs to Offer Greece Debt Relief

Greece needs to borrow money not only to pay its debts but just to keep the lights on. Credit Photograph by Thomas Haugersveen/Agence Vu.


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Greece debt crisis: Athens blinks first as Alexis Tsipras promises to 'immediately implement' reforms in return for loan from bailout fund

… by Greece’s creditors and partners – Germany principal among them. Greece’s … letter saying that Greece wants an aid programme.” Greece’s apparent new … proposals.” What happened on Wednesday? Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsapiras said …


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Detroit...Greece...Puerto Rico...Does Anyone See A Pattern?

Detroit, Greece and Puerto Rico all show how inefficient governance can cause economic decline. How many more such cases are needed before the connection finally becomes evident to the media?


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Greek banks to remain closed all week

Greek banks will remain closed up to and including July 13 and a 60-euro per day ATM withdrawal limit will remain in force, the Greek finance ministry said on Wednesday. The government ordered the banks to close their doors on Monday, June 29, after the collapse of negotiations on an international aid deal. Euro zone leaders on Tuesday set Greece a deadline of the end of the week to come up with far-reaching reform proposals to unlock an aid package, which a full summit of the European Union would approve on Sunday if the 28 leaders are satisfied.


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The Latest: IMF's Lagarde: Greek debt needs restructuring

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — The latest on the Greek financial crisis (all times Athens local):


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Frantic Tsipras Scrambles Reforms Plan, Asks For New Bailout

Greece requested a new three-year rescue program from its European partners on July 8 and rushed to complete a detailed plan of economic reforms in time to avoid the country's descent into financial chaos. The post Frantic Tsipras Scrambles Reforms Plan, Asks For New Bailout appeared first on The National Herald.


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Greece crisis sees Greeks buying Apple goods and jewellery to avoid financial ruin

Wealthy Greeks have embarked on a luxury spending spree amid fears the banks will raid their bank accounts, and one jewellery store owner (pictured) is among those seeing a surge in sales.


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Greeks vent their frustration at EU crisis with graffiti artwork

Every surface in Athens has been transformed into a piece of art where the people of the city have gone to voice their anger, frustration and fear over the decisions being made about their futures.


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Pete Peterson: America can't afford Greek complacency

As a first-generation Greek American, I have more than a passing interest.         


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I can’t support a Europe that acts as a thuggy bailiff against Greece

With austerity dividing north and south, and young and old, it’s not just mad Ukippers and odd Tories questioning the idea of a European identityTo be Eurosceptic used to mean believing all sorts of rubbish about no longer being allowed to say “two fat ladies” for 88 at the bingo and being forced to eat straight bananas. Being anti-Europe meant tutting over Euro-madness stories in the Daily Mail and railing against “human rights” in general or the metric system specifically. My grandad held out against decimalisation until his dying day. It was the beginning of the end, he reckoned.For my generation, though, being pro-Europe was as easy as getting on a cheap flight, and as the flights got cheaper, many people felt a little bit more European, in a “Wow, isn’t Barcelona great” way. We consumed the culture without asking who produced the politics. Anyway, the mantra is still that being in Europe is good for business and business is always good. The left takes for granted this kind of pro-Europe attitude. So does Cameron, in assuming a referendum to stay in Europe will easily be won with cross-party support. It’s only mad Ukippers and odd Tories and swivel-eyed Little Englanders who bang on about Europe, who refuse this modern European identity. Oh, and Tony Benn and Bob Crow, when they were alive. But let’s forget that old left tradition, shall we? Continue reading...


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NYSE suspends trading of all securities due to technical problems

By John McCrankNEW YORK (Reuters) - A technical glitch forced the New York Stock Exchange to suspend trading for more than three hours on Wednesday in the biggest outage to strike a U.S. financial market in nearly two years, unnerving investors already rattled by the meltdown in Chinese stocks.The exchange, a unit of Intercontinental Exchange Inc , said the halt, which occurred shortly after 11:30 a.m. EDT, was not the result of a cyberattack. Other exchanges were trading normally."It's not a good day, and I don't feel good for our customers who are having to deal with the fallout," NYSE President Thomas Farley told CNBC.The exchange had hoped to reopen by 3 p.m., he added.Much of the trading on the NYSE happens at the end of the day, when portfolio managers put in orders designed to occur at the exact market close to ensure end-of-day pricing.The NYSE accounts for more than 60 percent of S&P 500 volume at the close of the market, according to Credit Suisse analyst Ana Avramovic. Most of this is at the "market-on-close," when those orders are processed for funds and institutions."That could be a major problem," said Peter Costa, president at Empire Executions Inc, who trades on the NYSE floor. "If you don't have all the orders on that marketplace on the close, the pricing on the close would be definitely not accurate."In November 2012, a problem with a computer server forced NYSE to suspend trading in more than 200 securities, and there were no closing auctions in the affected stocks listed on the exchange. To solve the problem, it used official closing prices from other exchanges.The U.S. market was down more than 1 percent on Wednesday, as investors continue to focus on turmoil in China and Greece's debt crisis.FRAGMENTED MARKETThere are 11 U.S. stock exchanges, and NYSE-listed stocks continued to trade on other venues, such as those run by Nasdaq OMX Group and BATS Global Markets."This is one of the rare cases where the fragmented markets we live in actually serve a purpose,” said Dave Nadig, director of exchange-traded funds at FactSet Research Systems. “If this happened at (the London Stock Exchange), you would just be sitting staring at a blank screen."The issues at NYSE came on the same day that computer problems led United Airlines to ground all its flights for about two hours and the home page of the Wall Street Journal's website temporarily went down.The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said there were no signs that the problems at NYSE and United Airlines stemmed from "malicious activity."Nearly all U.S. trading is done electronically, and the NYSE outage again raised questions about the technology at exchanges after major glitches in recent years.A technical problem at NYSE's Arca exchange in March caused some of the most popular exchange-traded funds to be temporarily unavailable for trading. And in August 2013, trading of all Nasdaq-listed stocks was frozen for three hours, leading U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Mary Jo White to call for a meeting of Wall Street executives to insure "continuous and orderly" functioning of the markets.The SEC said on Wednesday that it was closely monitoring the situation at NYSE. The White House said President Barack Obama had been briefed on the matter.The New York Stock Exchange accounted for about 13.4 percent of all equities volume last month and 12.5 percent Tuesday according to BATS Global Markets data.(Reporting by John McCrank; Additional reporting by Rodrigo Campos, Caroline Valetkevitch, Sinead Carew, and Jessica Toonkel; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)Join the conversation about this story »


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Banks to remain closed until Monday

(Reuters) - Following is the latest news on Greece's debt crisis after euro zone leaders set Athens a deadline of the end of the week to come up with convincing reform proposals. 1003 - Greece successfully rolls over T-bills to refinance a maturing six-month issue 0920 - Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras tells European Parliament says will present details proposal to EU in next 2-3 days.


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There's a financial disadvantage in going to work for Trump

FA Insights is a daily newsletter from Business Insider that delivers the top news and commentary for financial advisors.  Donald Trump has a 'stingy' 401(k) plan (Bloomberg) According to Bloomberg, Donald Trump's employees have to pay their dues before they can begin reaping the benefits of his 401(k) plan. Employees must log a year of service time before they can begin contributing to the 401(k) plan and do not receive a company match until the end of that calendar year. The plan vests after six years, the slowest permissible by US law. Bloomberg's 401(k) rating system scores Trump's plan a 30 out of 100, which is lower than 49 of the top 50 largest companies by market cap. Trading halted at the NYSE for three hours (Business Insider) Trading at the New York Stock Exchange was halted at 11:32 a.m. ET due to a technical glitch. The exchange's Twitter account said, "The issue we are experiencing is an internal technical issue and is not the result of a cyber breach." Trading resumed at 3:10 p.m. ET. Gundlach says if Greece leaves the euro others will follow (Business Insider) Bond guru Jeff Gundlach thinks if Greece leaves the euro other debt-ridden countries could follow. "When one leaves, others join," Gundlach said. "There's never one cockroach." On Wednesday, Greece requested a three-year bailout program and now must present a new list of reforms to its creditors. A decision on whether Greece is staying in the euro or leaving is expected Sunday.  Robo advisor Wealthfront lowers account minimum (Wealth Management) Wealthfront announced accounts can now be opened with a deposit of $500, down from $5,000. The robo advisor made the move to become more competitive among younger investors. According to Wealth Management, accounts holding more than $10,000 will still be subject to a 25 basis point fee while those with less than that amount will be charged only ETF costs, which average 12 basis points.    Raymond James lands a team from Merrill (Think Advisor) Raymond James has landed a team of two female investment advisors from Bank of America Merrill Lynch.  The team of Kayla Koeber and Lori Baum brings more than 40 years of experience and approximately $120 million in assets under management to Raymond James. "What tipped the scale was a trip to the home office, where we experienced Raymond James’ culture firsthand,” Koeber said. Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: How much sex you should be having in a healthy relationship


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For Greece and the EU, now it really is crunch time

Recommended: Think you know Europe? Greece could leave the currency altogether and reissue the drachma – though the government has insisted that's off the table. A period where informal currency, essentially IOUs from the government, comes into being while an eventual deal is worked out is also possible.


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More data needed before Fed can hike, as Greek worries loom: Fed minutes

By Michael Flaherty and Jonathan SpicerWASHINGTON/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Federal Reserve officials needed to see more signs of a strengthening U.S. economy before raising interest rates, according to minutes of a June Fed policy meeting, at which Greece's debt crisis was cited as a serious concern.The minutes from the June 16-17 meeting show how the central bank continues to grapple with its plan to raise interest rates later this year, in the wake of mixed economic data domestically and market turmoil gathering steam abroad. The minutes underscored the view that a Fed rate hike would likely have to wait until at least September."Many participants emphasized that, in order to determine that the criteria for beginning policy normalization had been met, they would need additional information indicating that economic growth was strengthening, that labor market conditions were continuing to improve, and that inflation was moving back toward the Committee’s objective," the minutes said on Wednesday.U.S. Treasury prices rose after the release of the minutes.The officials added that lifting rates too soon while price pressures remained modest could hurt the Fed's credibility in being able to handle downside shocks to inflation."Our initial reaction is that they don’t contain a lot of surprises," said Laura Rosner, an economist at BNP Paribas in New York, adding that the minutes acknowledged improvement in the data.In its June policy statement, the central bank kept interest rates at near zero, where they have been since December 2008. But the Fed indicated it was on track for at least one and perhaps a second rate increase later this year.At the time of the Fed's two-day meeting in June, Greece had not yet defaulted on its debt, and China's stock market was not yet in free-fall.Still, the minutes pointed to a serious concern policymakers have regarding Greece's economic problems, in a sign of how market tumult abroad could derail the Fed's rate hike plans if contagion spreads."Many participants expressed concern that a failure of Greece and its official creditors to resolve their differences could result in disruptions in financial markets in the euro area, with possible spillover effects on the United States," the minutes said.The minutes also showed worries about the pace of China's economic growth. In the weeks since the Fed's June meeting, China's stock market has plunged, prompting the government to step in and stanch the system's bleeding.The minutes showed the Fed was still on track to hike rates this year."Members thus saw economic conditions as continuing to approach those consistent with warranting a start to the normalization of the stance of monetary policy," the minutes said.(Reporting by Michael Flaherty and Jonathan Spicer; Additional reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Andrea Ricci)Join the conversation about this story »


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Forget about Greece; China is cause to freak out

Back in the West, Greece is still helping to drive headlines, if not spurring volatile trading. So, here's the news: Greece has a new deadline, again.


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5 reasons the eurozone could be stronger without Greece

And nobody wants to actively kick Greece out of the European Union. But plenty of people think that Europe should set a very high bar for Greece, and ...


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‘Regretfully, We Are Bankrupt’… Again; Debt And Default in Greece

Greece is the birthplace of dialogue, democracy, philosophy, arts and the first radical leftist government in Europe. During the last few years, and due to its deep dive into a financial turmoil, the country has been constantly hosted in numerous international headlines across the globe that are persistently warning of a potential default on its external debt. Are people warned about Greece diving into uncharted waters, though? This is not true, taking into account that the Greek State, during the 190 years of its modern history, has experienced bankruptcy several times. Lets anchor together in some of the biggest ports of modern Greek history, allowing ourselves to drift on trips to uncertainty, similar to those we face nowadays. In December 1893, Greek Prime Minister Charilaos Trikoupis rose in Hellenic Parliament and uttered one of the most dramatic declarations in Greek history: “Regretfully, we are bankrupt.” What followed next? The Greek government, surrendering its economic administration to the International Financial Control, was forced to impose extra levies on all transactions, reduce public spending, withdraw a great amount of money from circulation, work on social reforms and minimize corruption, as a previously applied extensive program of reforms and infrastructural modernization did not provide the State with the necessary revenues it needed to fulfill its obligations toward its international creditors as it was expected. University of Athens Professor of Political Science and Public Administration Thanos Vermis commented on the default under Trikoupis: “It happened because of over-borrowing, but those loans resulted in infrastructure projects that actually benefited the Greek people—for example, that is when the railways, that are still in use today, were built. It was a bankruptcy that actually gave something back.” After the 1893 bankruptcy, Greek authorities applied several essential reforms that by 1910 enabled the Greek economy not only to be competitive again but also to be transformed into one of the strongest in the European continent, resulting in the conquer of a part of its national territory during the Balkan Wars. “Despite the fact that the international control was humiliating and in the long run exploitative, it allowed the Greek economy to use many favorable factors of the 1898-1914 period advantageously,” historian D. Dertiles explained regarding this specific period of Greek history. 10 years after the 1922 Asia Minor Catastrophe and three years after the 1929 Wall Street Crash, Greece was left again as pray to creditors through a new Memorandum and in its desperate effort to avoid repaying its external debt, declared default under Eleftherios Venizelos and his opposition leader Panagis Tsaldaris. However, something positive to Greek society occurred at that time. Greek citizens turned to their internal market, developing their rural economy. People in the countryside were not the ones to suffer the consequences of such a default because of their self-sufficiency. This time, the upper class and wealthy were those mainly affected. But are these two bankruptcies the only ones Greece suffered during its modern history? The answer is a surrounding “No.” Because bankruptcy had previously been declared in Greece in 1827, when the first Governor of Greece, Ioannis Kapodistrias, being in dire straits as State money was lavished without being able to repay the two loans the Greek government took in 1824 and 1825, announced default. It was a quirky bankruptcy because several historians argue that the Battle of Navarino (October 20, 1827), which enshrined the country’s independence, was in fact an initiative taken by Greece’s international creditors aiming to collect their money from an organized state. The repayment of the loans Greece managed to take during the Greek War of Independence was finally taken over by the reign of King Otto in 1832. In order to pay the installments, the King of Greece used a new loan of around 60 million drachmas, provided by the Rothschild brothers in May 1833, money that was denied to Kapodistrias five years ago. The disputes with creditors were a daily occurrence, the economy was not progressing at all and there weren’t essential funds to pay off the debt. For this reason, Otto took the initiative to apply unpopular measures, which accelerated political developments leading to the Dimitrios Kallergis military coup on September 3, 1843. After the September 3 Revolution, Greece declared default.


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Third Bank Holiday Keeps Greek Banks Closed Until Monday – ECB Maintains ELA Levels

After the Greek government had promised that banks would open on Tuesday, July 7, a second bank holiday extension was officially announced on Wednesday and the European Central Bank (ECB) will keep the Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) to Greece at the same level of 88.6 billion euros until Monday. According to Bloomberg, the ECB Governing Council made the decision in a phone conference on Wednesday and is scheduled to meet again on Monday. The final deadline to reach an agreement between Greece and its creditors is Sunday, July 12. The first extension was announced on Monday, with banks scheduled to open on Thursday. Banks will now remain closed until Monday, while the daily maximum withdrawal limit will remain at 60 euros. Those on unemployment benefits, pensioners without ΑΤΜ cards and pensioners abroad are eligible to collect an extra 120 euros. The decision was ratified by Deputy Finance Minister Nadia Valavani. Furthermore, according to sources, those traveling abroad can carry a maximum of 1,000 euros per person. The limit was previously 10,000 euros. Earlier in the day, Deputy Finance Minister Dimitris Mardas’ meeting with Greek bankers that was scheduled for 5 p.m. was cancelled. During a radio interview on Tuesday, Alternate Administrative Reform Minister Giorgos Katrougalos had warned that banks were unlikely to open for the rest of the week.


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Immigrants and Refugees Scramble Over Food on Greek Island of Lesvos

The Greek island of Lesvos, located just a few miles from Turkey, is experiencing a massive influx of refugees and immigrants, and signs of a tense atmosphere are becoming apparent. A video by lesvosnews on Wednesday allegedly shows immigrants and refugees fighting over a van containing food that was to be delivered to a refugee settlement where 2,500 people are living. The footage shows them scrambling to get to the van while some of them even climb on top of the vehicle. Lesvos had 15,000 refugees cross from Turkey just in the month of June. The situation has become overwhelming, with the island lacking the necessary infrastructure to deal with these numbers. On Sunday night, a group of immigrants and refugees revolted in their settlement and threw rocks to Coast Guard officers on duty. “We are going to mourn victims. The situation has become uncontrollable for a while now. Today it was me, tomorrow its will be someone else. There are thousands of migrants on the island. How can we handle them? 100 to 200 leave daily but at the same time another five hundred arrive,” an injured officer told protothema.gr. The new arrivals are allegedly frustrated with the fact that they are forced to stay on the island under appalling conditions and are not being issued the proper documents to leave and potentially move on further into Europe. According to the report, there are 2,500 immigrants and refugees living in a space that is able to host 600 people. Another 800 are staying in the island’s only reception center in the area of Moria. There are 400 personnel on the island.


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Global stocks mixed as Greece bailout deadline looms

Global stock markets were mixed Wednesday, after European leaders told Greece to reach a new bailout agreement with its creditors by Sunday or face bankruptcy and expulsion from the euro currency system. In Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 index lost 3.1% to close ...


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ESM Wants Assessment of Greek Request from ECB and European Commission

A leaked document that is allegedly the letter sent by European Stability Mechanism (ESM) Board of Governors Chairperson Jeroen Dijsselbloem to the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB), is asking them to examine the Greek request for ESM assistance made earlier in the day. The letter asks the two institutions to look into three issues. a) To examine any risk currently existing to the financial stability of the euro as whole, as well as for each member-state separately. b) To “assess the actual financing needs of the Hellenic Republic.” c) To examine the sustainability of the Greek debt. The ESM also asks for the collaboration of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in this process. The IMF published a report last week that found the Greek debt to be unsustainable. On the other hand European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said after Tuesday’s Euro Summit that the debt issue could be discussed in October. The leaked document can be read in full here.


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U.S. Treasury Secretary Calls Greek Debt Unsustainable

With Sunday’s final deadline for an agreement between Greece and its international creditors looming, U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew urged the two sides to reach a viable solution. In a discussion at the Brookings Institute on Wednesday, Lew agreed with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) report, which found that the Greek debt is unsustainable, and urged Europeans to move forward with debt restructuring. “The reluctance to restructure European debt is deep on the part of many European players. I think it is a combination of an economic view and also the level of trust. I think what we will see in the next few days is can parties come together and build enough trust? Greece will take the actions that it needs to take so that Europe will restructure the debt in a way that is more sustainable,” he said. Although Lew maintained that the risk of the European crisis affecting the United States is much smaller than it was in 2011, he noted that a deal between Greece and its creditors is important for geopolitical and economic stability. “I have continued to believe that is in the best interest of all parties to find a solution,” he said. “Greece needs to have a sustainable debt path and a growth path in its future and good deal would give it a shot at that. I think it is a mistake for the European economy, the global economy, to take the risks involved with the uncontrollable crisis in Greece.”


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Greek PM Alexis Tsipras's path to power

Alexis Tsipras, 40, is Greece's youngest prime minister in over a century and a half. But while he has been a political animal since his youth, joining the Communist youth at age 14, he had a different career path planned.


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Passenger Traffic at Athens International Airport ‘Took Off’ in June

A 21.9% increase, compared to June 2014, was recorded in passenger traffic at Athens International Airport “Eleftherios Venizelos,” which welcomed 1.88 million passengers. According to AIA data, both domestic and international passengers in June 2015 increased to similar levels by 24.3% and 20.6% respectively. AIA received 660,759 domestic passengers, compared to 531,704 in June 2014, and 1.2 million international passengers, compared to 1 million during the same period last year. Furthermore, a 10% increase was recorded in Greek travelers, while the number of international travelers increased by 29%. A further increase was recorded during the first six months of 2015 at Athens International Airport, with passenger traffic reaching about 8 million passengers, a 23% increase, compared to the same period in 2014 (approximately 6.5 million). Moreover, flights to Athens International Airport increased by 18.2% in June, reaching a total of 18,000. Domestic flights increased by 18.7% and international flights increased by 17.8%. In June 2015, there were 7,849 domestic flights and 10,169 international flights. Overall, in the first half of 2015, the number of flights approached 80,000, recording a 17.4% increase, compared to the same period in 2014, with all months showing similar overall growth levels. Both domestic and international flights grew by 13.9% and 20.1% respectively.


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ECB leaves emergency funding for Greece unmoved

The ECB has opted to leave its emergency funding for Greek banks capped at 89 billion euros. A banking source told journalists the ECB would wait to see how Greece's creditors responded to its latest reform proposals.


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Trichet: Grexit would be entirely Greece's fault

#economy


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Syriza rebel opposes Greek bailout deal

Panayotis Lafazanis says Athens should stand firm after referendum


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U.K. Utility Customers Are Not Amused

Source: www.powerlineblog.com - Wednesday, July 08, 2015(Steven Hayward) Illuminating (heh) story from this morning’s Wall Street Journal : Power Companies Are Overcharging U.K. Customers, Government Probe Finds LONDON—Britain’s six biggest power companies have been overcharging customers by about 5%, a U.K. government investigation said Tuesday, but the report blamed green-energy subsidies , a lack of competition and transparency and ineffective regulation for higher prices. (Emphasis added.) Only government can subsidize something and still make its retail price go up. Of course—whenever a government scheme backfires, you always go with Ralph Nader Hymnal Refrain Number One, sung in C-major, and call for More and Better Regulation! It’s not just limited to Britain: Governments across Europe have been seeking to address public outrage over higher energy prices amid green-energy subsidies and other measures. The U.K., Spain and Greece have moved to cut renewable-energy subsidies as part of steps designed to reduce electricity bills in the past year, after consumer power costs in Bulgaria sparked protests that toppled the government in 2013. . . Regulations designed to simplify prices aren’t working , the authority said, adding that it was considering whether to bring in “transitional” price caps on the most expensive prices to protect customers until other measures have led to a more competitive market. Regulations not working? As I say, start singing the Nader Hymn #1. But remember, All Related


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Elderly Man Schools Europe In Generosity By Donating His Meager Pension To Greece

An elderly pensioner in Cyprus has a lesson in generosity for the rest of Europe. He may not have deep pockets, but 88-year-old Onoufrios Michaelides was so moved by the sight of fellow pensioners lining up outside Greek banks that he decided to donate his monthly pension to help people in the country. Michaelides sent his 506 euro ($555) pension to Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, along with a letter expressing "appreciation of your tireless but also heroic efforts to preserve and secure the honor and dignity of the Greek people," Agence France Presse reported. The Greek Cypriot told the news agency in the coastal city of Limassol that Tsipras' aides had called him to thank him for the gift. What if #generosity was taught by those who have the Least?http://t.co/AtrthquArH #GreeceCrisis #EU— Aurélie Fondecave (@GipsyBuddha) July 7, 2015 "It is not a large sum, but the Greek government can utilize it where they are more needed, to orphans, or to poor families," Michaelides told local press in Cyprus. "I hope this deed will be a motive for others who have more than me and could help the Greek people." Greece is on the brink of economic collapse amid a standoff between international creditors and Tsipras' government on the terms of a new bailout deal. Greece's European creditors are pushing for further economic and labor reforms in exchange for fresh financing, but the Greek government says the country has already been stretched to a breaking point by the austerity measures imposed by previous bailouts. The crisis has left ordinary Greeks struggling to get by: banks are closed, withdrawals are capped at 60 euros a day, and food and drug shortages have been reported. Elderly Greeks who don't have ATM cards flooded banks last week to pick up a one-time payment of 120 euros ($132), with the desperate scenes throwing Greece's plight into sharp focus. -- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.


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Greek banks stay shut for second week

ATHENS — Greek banks will remain shuttered through the end of the week as government leaders make what could be their final pitch for a bailout ...


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US Treasury Secretary: Europe Must Restructure Greek Debt

Mr. Obama on Tuesday urged German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras in separate phone calls to compromise.


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Greeks Spend in Droves, Afraid of Losing Savings to a Bailout

Facing unknown consequences if Greece is pushed out of the eurozone, panicked citizens are buying appliances and jewelry, and even prepaying their taxes.


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Is Britain's debt really like Greece's?

The chancellor compared the UK’s economy with that of Greece in his budget speech. Does George Osborne’s claim stand up or was it just political rhetoric?Greece has featured several times in George Osborne’s narrative about the UK’s public finances. He likened Britain’s rising debt levels to those of Greece in his 2010 budget and repeated the same warning in his budget speech on Wednesday. Related: George Osborne lures voters towards glimmer of light in budget speech Continue reading...


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This Graphic Shows What Greek Austerity Would Look Like in the U.S.

Here's how similar cuts would affect the average American


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Grain or democracy: the choice for Greece

Guardian commentators stress the risks to the euro and the EU itself of not accommodating a Greek default. That country’s flight from both euro and union, they say, would be fearfully dangerous for currency and institution. This is one-sided to the point of being one-eyed. What will happen to both if other hard-pressed countries can default and receive indefinite loans carrying optional repayment? In the same deluded spirit, Aditya Chakrabortty (Opinion, 7 July) laments the 2011 appointment in Italy of an unelected technocrat, Mario Monti, and fears something similar in Greece. Dr Monti (technocracy), replacing the buffoon populist, Silvio Burlusconi (democracy), put the Italian economy back into working shape. Don’t basic rules matter?Edward PearceYork• If one man offers you democracy and another offers you a bag of grain, at what stage of starvation will you prefer the grain to the vote (Bertrand Russell’s 1950 Nobel prize lecture)?Emma Rose BarberAsh, Kent Continue reading...


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Grevolt? Voices supporting Athens grow in European Parliament

The knives are out for Greece and its Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, as Greece desperately tries to cut a deal with the Eurozone, to keep its economy afloat. However, as deadline day looms, Athens has a growing number of supporters in Europe.Read Full Article at RT.com


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Greek youth, once bastion of EU support, sour on membership

Young Greeks say they are just as Europe-minded as their peers in Spain, Britain, or Germany. Recommended: Think you know Europe? Polling figures show their distrust of the EU is higher than the average, more so than in other crisis-hit countries in southern Europe – and that could grow if they are kicked out of the eurozone or forced to bear reforms they consider socially unjust and even anti-European.


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Dijsselbloem: Letter towards ESM to examine Greek request

Fund will seek expert EU, IMF advise


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Guardian lists 10 things Greeks (in Greece) are now without!

Curbs on economic freedom, in the EU... circa 2015


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Europe Must Restructure Greek Debt, U.S. Treasury Secretary Says

U.S. Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew said Wednesday that Europe needs to restructure Greece’s debt as a key part of an emergency-financing solution to keep the country in the eurozone.


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FED: We're worried about Greece (DIA, SPX, SPY, QQQ, IWM, TLT)

The Minutes from the latest FOMC meeting indicate that the Fed thinks it is on track to raise rates this year, but it is worried about Greece.  And it's worth keeping in mind that these Minutes are from a meeting that took place before the Greece situation really flared up.  Here's the key passage on Greece:  "[M]any participants expressed concern that a failure of Greece and its official creditors to resolve their differences could result in disruptions in financial markets in the euro area, with possible spillover effects on the United States." Additionally, the Fed mentioned Greece in the context of how markets had developed between the Fed's April and June meetings, noting that stock prices "in most countries" had declined in the euro area over that time.  In June, the Fed kept interest rates unchanged, as expected, but still signaled that it expects to raise interest rates at some point this year.  To that end, the Fed said that with economic conditions appearing to firm over the last few months, "members agreed to continue making decisions about the appropriate target range for the federal funds rate on a meeting-by-meeting basis, with their decisions depending on the implications of economic and financial developments for the prospects for labor markets and inflation." Most FOMC members, however, saw the labor market needing to show further improvement in order to warrant the first increase in the Fed's main interest rate since July 2006.  In June, the US economy added 223,000 jobs, which was roughly in line with expectations, but wage growth was lacking.  Here are the full Minutes:  Developments in Financial Markets and the Federal Reserve's Balance Sheet In a joint session of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) and the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the manager of the System Open Market Account (SOMA) reported on developments in domestic and foreign financial markets. The manager also discussed System open market operations conducted by the Open Market Desk during the period since the Committee met on April 28-29. The Desk's overnight reverse repurchase agreement (RRP) operations continued to provide a soft floor for money market interest rates. The manager updated the Committee on plans for term RRP operations at the end of the second quarter and noted that testing of the Federal Reserve's Term Deposit Facility continued. The manager also reviewed the reinvestment policy for maturing Treasury securities. Specifically, at Treasury auctions, the Desk rolls over the maturing securities held in the SOMA into newly issued securities in proportion to the issue amounts of the new securities, and the Federal Reserve receives the interest rate determined competitively in the public auction of the newly issued securities. The manager updated the Committee on tentative plans to improve the calculation of the effective federal funds rate published by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The effective federal funds rate, currently defined as the volume-weighted mean of interest rates on federal funds transactions, would be redefined as the volume-weighted median. Staff analysis suggested that the volume-weighted median would usually differ little from the volume-weighted mean, but that the median would be a more robust statistic when some trades occur at interest rates that are unrepresentative of general market conditions or when there are data problems such as reporting errors. The change in approach would be implemented next year in conjunction with the transition to the Report of Selected Money Market Rates (FR 2420) as the data source for the calculation of the effective federal funds rate. A volume-weighted median would also be used to construct a representative measure of conditions in the broader set of markets covered by the new overnight bank funding rate.4 The manager noted that additional background information on these changes would be published by the Desk shortly following the release of the minutes from this meeting. Participants expressed no objections to the proposal. The staff also provided an update to the Committee on a review of the current system of primary dealers and the Desk's overall framework for establishing, maintaining, and publishing information on the Federal Reserve's counterparty relationships for operations in both domestic and foreign financial markets. While the current sets of counterparties were performing well and meeting the Desk's needs, the staff noted that it would report back to the Committee in the future should potential enhancements to the counterparty framework be identified. The Desk anticipated that it would conduct regular reviews of the counterparty framework approximately every three years in the future. By unanimous vote, the Committee ratified the Open Market Desk's domestic transactions over the intermeeting period. There were no intervention operations in foreign currencies for the System's account over the intermeeting period. The Board meeting concluded at the end of the discussion of developments in financial markets and the Federal Reserve's balance sheet. Staff Review of the Economic Situation 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. Growth in real personal consumption expenditures (PCE) appeared to pick up early in the second quarter from its modest pace in the previous quarter. The components of the nominal retail sales data used by the Bureau of Economic Analysis to construct its estimate of PCE increased in May, and the data for sales in the previous two months were revised up. Sales of light motor vehicles were much higher in May than in April. Among the factors that influence household spending, real disposable income rose in April and gains in households' net worth were supported by further advances in home values. Moreover, consumer sentiment in the University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers in early June remained near its highest level since prior to the most recent recession. Activity in the housing sector improved somewhat in recent months but continued to be slow. Starts and building permits of both new single-family homes and multifamily units increased, on balance, in April and May. Sales of new homes rose in April; existing home sales moved down, although pending home sales increased. Growth in real private expenditures for business equipment and intellectual property products appeared to remain relatively slow in the second quarter. Nominal shipments of nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft rose in April. Forward-looking indicators, such as new orders for these capital goods along with national and regional surveys of business conditions, pointed to only modest increases in business equipment spending in the near term. Firms' nominal spending for nonresidential structures excluding drilling and mining rose in April. In contrast, the number of oil rigs in operation continued to fall through early June, suggesting a further decline in real business spending for drilling and mining structures in the second quarter. Nominal federal spending data for April and May pointed toward a further decline in real federal government purchases in the second quarter. Real state and local government purchases appeared to be rising in the second quarter, with increases in both payrolls and nominal construction spending in recent months. The U.S. international trade deficit widened substantially in March but narrowed in April, leaving the deficit modestly wider than in February. After decreasing for four straight months, exports increased in both March and April, as shipments to Asia picked up following the resolution in February of labor disputes at West Coast ports. Imports rebounded in March from the depressed levels in January and February but fell back in April, close to the first-quarter average. While real net exports made a large negative contribution to the change in real GDP in the first quarter of 2015, April data suggested that net exports might be a considerably smaller drag on GDP growth in the second quarter of the year. Total U.S. consumer prices, as measured by the PCE price index, only edged up over the 12 months ending in April, held down primarily by earlier large declines in energy prices. Core PCE inflation, which excludes food and energy prices, was 1-1/4 percent over the same 12-month period, restrained in part by declines in the prices of non-energy imports. Measures of expected longer-run inflation from a number of surveys, including the Michigan survey, the Survey of Professional Forecasters, and the Desk's Survey of Primary Dealers, remained stable. However, market-based measures of inflation compensation were still low, although somewhat higher than early in the year. Measures of labor compensation rose at moderate rates, outpacing the rise in consumer prices over the past year. The employment cost index increased 2-3/4 percent over the four quarters ending in the first quarter, while compensation per hour in the nonfarm business sector rose 1-3/4 percent over the same period. Average hourly earnings for all employees increased 2-1/4 percent over the 12 months ending in May. There were some tentative signs that these labor compensation measures were accelerating a little in the first quarter. Economic growth in many foreign economies slowed in the first quarter. Real GDP contracted in Canada, where lower oil prices depressed investment, and in Brazil, where business and consumer confidence weakened and high inflation prompted a significant tightening of monetary policy. In addition, real GDP growth slowed in China and Mexico. By contrast, the euro-area economy continued its recovery, and real GDP growth in Japan increased sharply. Inflation rates turned positive in recent months in many foreign economies following the trough in oil prices earlier this year. Staff Review of the Financial Situation Over the intermeeting period, longer-term Treasury yields increased notably amid heightened volatility, apparently boosted by a rise in yields on core euro-area sovereign bonds and, to a lesser extent, stronger-than-anticipated news about the U.S. labor market late in the period. The sharp rise in yields on core euro-area sovereign bonds seemed to reflect a notable rise in term premiums from significantly compressed levels as well as an increase in the path of expected future short-term rates following some positive data for the European economy. The nominal Treasury yield curve steepened appreciably, on net, with 2-, 5-, and 10-year yields ending the intermeeting period about 15 to 35 basis points higher. Most of the increase in nominal yields was attributable to a rise in real yields, as measures of inflation compensation were relatively stable. Various measures typically used to assess liquidity in Treasury and mortgage-backed securities (MBS) markets were little changed over the intermeeting period; they have generally pointed to relatively stable market functioning over the past several years. However, the majority of respondents to the June Senior Credit Officer Opinion Survey on Dealer Financing Terms indicated that, over the past five years, liquidity and functioning in these markets, especially in Treasury markets, have deteriorated. Respondents attributed the deterioration primarily to securities dealers' decreased willingness to provide balance sheet resources for market making as a result of both regulatory changes and changes in internal risk-management practices. On balance, the expected path of the federal funds rate implied by futures contracts steepened noticeably beyond 2015, with a portion of this shift coming after the May employment report. Some evidence suggested that a significant part of the increase may have reflected higher term premiums. By contrast, Federal Reserve communications following the April FOMC meeting were characterized by investors as generally in line with expectations and elicited limited market reaction. Results from the June Survey of Primary Dealers and the June Survey of Market Participants indicated little change since the April survey in modal forecasts of the federal funds rate through 2018. Respondents again saw the September 2015 FOMC meeting as the most likely time for the first increase in the target range for the federal funds rate. The expected pace of tightening after the initial increase in the target range for the federal funds rate, whenever that might occur, was similar to that reported in the April survey. Over the intermeeting period, most broad U.S. equity price indexes moved down a bit, on net, amid mixed macroeconomic news and little information on earnings. Option-implied volatility on the S&P 500 index over the next month increased, on balance, but remained near the lower end of its historical range. Spreads on 10-year triple-B-rated corporate bonds over comparable-maturity Treasury securities widened somewhat, on net, while spreads on speculative-grade corporate bonds narrowed slightly. Financing conditions for large nonfinancial businesses continued to be accommodative. Gross corporate bond issuance remained quite strong, and institutional leveraged loan issuance picked up significantly. Commercial and industrial loans on banks' balance sheets continued to increase at a solid pace. Meanwhile, financing conditions for small businesses continued to improve, though the growth of small business loans on banks' books remained subdued, partly reflecting still-tepid demand for credit from owners of small businesses. Financing for commercial real estate remained broadly available, although the expansion of commercial real estate loans on banks' books slowed in April and May, reportedly because of sales of loans secured by nonfarm nonresidential properties into pools of commercial mortgage-backed securities. Measures of residential mortgage credit availability continued to improve gradually over the intermeeting period. Nevertheless, credit remained tight for borrowers with lower credit scores. Interest rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages increased about 30 basis points, broadly in line with MBS yields and other longer-term rates. Financing conditions in consumer credit markets stayed accommodative in March and April. Auto and student loans expanded at a robust pace through April, while revolving credit picked up in March and April after a slow start at the beginning of the year. Sovereign bond yields in foreign economies rose notably during the intermeeting period, especially in the advanced economies, led by a substantial increase in German bund yields. A number of factors may have contributed to the increase in yields, including a reappraisal of term premiums, which appeared to have fallen to very low levels in April. The rise in yields was also supported by the release of some stronger-than-expected inflation data in the euro area and by European Central Bank communications that volatility in yields was to be expected. Against this backdrop and with a step-up in concerns about developments in Greece, equity prices declined in most countries. Stock prices in Japan and especially in China were the main exceptions. The foreign exchange value of the dollar increased a bit, on balance, during the intermeeting period against the currencies of major U.S. trading partners. While the dollar declined against the euro and other European currencies, it rose against the Canadian dollar, the yen, and many emerging market currencies, boosted in part by the strong U.S. employment report for May. Staff Economic Outlook In the economic forecast prepared by the staff for the June FOMC meeting, real GDP growth in the second half of this year was expected to step up from its pace in the first half. However, economic growth in the second half was projected to be a little lower than in the projection prepared for the April meeting, largely reflecting a small downward revision to the forecast for household spending. The staff's medium-term projection for real GDP growth was essentially unrevised from the previous forecast. The staff continued to project that real GDP would expand at a faster pace than potential output in 2016 and 2017, supported primarily by increases in consumer spending, even as the normalization of the stance of monetary policy was assumed to proceed. The expansion in economic output over the medium term was anticipated to trim resource slack; the unemployment rate was expected to decline gradually to the staff's estimate of its longer-run natural rate. The staff's forecast for inflation in the near term was little changed, and it was unrevised over the medium term. Energy prices and non-oil import prices were expected to begin steadily rising next year, but the staff projected that inflation would continue to be below the Committee's longer-run objective of 2 percent over 2016 and 2017. However, inflation was anticipated to reach 2 percent thereafter, with inflation expectations in the longer run assumed to be consistent with the Committee's objective and slack in labor and product markets projected to have waned. The staff viewed the extent of uncertainty around its June projections for real GDP growth, the unemployment rate, and inflation as similar to the average over the past 20 years. The risks to the forecasts for real GDP growth and inflation were seen as tilted a little to the downside, reflecting the staff's assessment that neither monetary policy nor fiscal policy was well positioned to help the economy withstand substantial adverse shocks. At the same time, the staff saw the risks around its outlook for the unemployment rate as roughly balanced. Participants' Views on Current Conditions and the Economic Outlook In conjunction with this FOMC meeting, members of the Board of Governors and Federal Reserve Bank presidents submitted their projections of the most likely outcomes for real GDP growth, the unemployment rate, inflation, and the federal funds rate for each year from 2015 through 2017 and over the longer run, conditional on each participant's judgment of appropriate monetary policy.5 The longer-run projections represent each participant's assessment of the rate to which each variable would be expected to converge, over time, under appropriate monetary policy and in the absence of further shocks to the economy. These projections and policy assessments are described in the Summary of Economic Projections, which is an addendum to these minutes. In their discussion of the economic situation and the outlook, meeting participants viewed the information received over the intermeeting period as indicating that economic activity was expanding moderately after little change in the first quarter of the year. Early in 2015, a number of factors--including unfavorable weather in parts of the country and labor disputes at West Coast ports--temporarily held down real GDP; several analy-ses also suggested that difficulties with seasonal adjustment likely contributed to an underestimate of first-quarter real GDP. The unemployment rate was unchanged over the period between the April and June meetings, but payroll employment posted solid gains, and, on balance, a range of labor market indicators suggested that underutilization of labor resources diminished somewhat. Although participants marked down their expectations for the rate of increase in real GDP over the first half of the year, their projections for economic growth in the second half of 2015 and over 2016 and 2017 were broadly similar to those prepared for the March meeting. Under their respective assumptions about appropriate monetary policy, participants generally expected real GDP to expand at a rate sufficient to continue to move labor market conditions toward levels judged consistent with the Committee's dual mandate. Inflation readings available since the April meeting continued to run below the Committee's longer-run objective, partly reflecting earlier declines in energy prices and continued decreases in prices of non-energy imports. However, energy prices appeared to have stabilized. Participants continued to project a gradual rise in inflation toward 2 percent over the medium term as the labor market improved further and the transitory effects of earlier declines in energy and import prices dissipated. In discussing how to interpret the reported weakness in real GDP during the first quarter, participants considered alternative estimates of real economic activity based on various data-filtering models maintained by Board and Reserve Bank staff. These models yielded a range of estimates, but, overall, they suggested that real activity in the first quarter was likely stronger than the then-current official estimate of real GDP. Some participants indicated that the higher alternative estimates seemed more consistent with the increases in real gross domestic income and private domestic final purchases in the first quarter as well as the strength in employment and hours worked. However, the alternative estimates left open the question of when and to what extent the seasonal adjustment and other measurement issues associated with official estimates of GDP in the first quarter might unwind. While participants generally saw the risks to their projections of economic activity and the labor market as balanced, they gave a number of reasons to be cautious in assessing the outlook. Some pointed to the risk that the weaker-than-anticipated rise in economic activity over the first half of the year could reflect factors that might continue to restrain sales and production, and that economic activity might not have sufficient momentum to sustain progress toward the Committee's objectives. In particular, they were concerned that consumers could remain cautious or that the drag on sectors affected by lower energy prices and the higher dollar could persist. Others, however, viewed the strength in the labor market in recent months as potentially signaling a stronger-than-expected bounceback in economic activity. Several mentioned their uncertainty about whether Greece and its official creditors would reach an agreement and about the likely pace of economic growth abroad, particularly in China and other emerging market economies. Other concerns were related to whether the apparent weakness in productivity growth recently would be reversed or continue. On the one hand, a rebound in productivity growth in coming quarters might restrain hiring and slow the improvement in labor market conditions. On the other hand, if productivity growth remained weak, the labor market might tighten more quickly and inflation might rise more rapidly than anticipated. At the time of the April meeting, the increase in consumer spending was estimated to have been unexpectedly weak in the first quarter following strong gains in the second half of 2014. The additional information that had become available since then, including more complete estimates of outlays for services and revised data on retail sales, indicated that consumer spending was somewhat better than previously reported, rising at a moderate pace in the first quarter. In addition, the strong rebound in motor vehicle sales and the solid gain in retail sales in May suggested that the pace of consumer spending was picking up in the current quarter. Moreover, a number of fundamental factors determining consumer spending remained positive, including the boost to real income from the earlier decline in energy prices, low interest rates, sustained moderate gains in wage and salary income, stronger household balance sheets, and the high levels of households' confidence about the economic outlook and about their income prospects. Many participants anticipated that these factors would support a solid pace of consumer spending going forward. However, others remained concerned that consumers had not increased their spending as much as expected in response to the drop in energy prices, and that the rise in the saving rate since last fall may signal more cautious behavior among households that might last for some time. A number of participants noted that housing starts and permits rose considerably in recent months, and indicators of sales activity turned more positive. Nonetheless, home construction was still below the trend that would appear consistent with population growth, sales remained at low levels, and credit availability was still relatively tight. Reports on manufacturing in a number of regions offered some signs that the sector was no longer weakening, with a couple of Districts' diffusion indexes turning up. Still, cutbacks in spending on drilling and mining equipment, slow demand for other business equipment, and the drag on exports from slow foreign demand and previous increases in the dollar continued to weigh on industrial production. Motor vehicle production was highlighted as a bright spot. In those Districts in which activity had been adversely affected by the drop in energy prices, drilling activity was either contracting less rapidly or was stabilizing. Higher oil production could continue to hold down energy prices in the near term, but industry contacts anticipated some recovery in prices over the coming year, which should stem layoffs and cuts in capital spending in the energy sector. Agricultural production in several Districts appeared likely to benefit from wet weather, but weak farm income continued to weigh on the sector. Several participants reported that the services sector was a relative source of strength in their Districts. In general, business contacts continued to express optimism about stronger sales and production in the second half of the year. In their discussion of labor market conditions, participants offered their views on recent developments and the progress that had occurred in reducing underutilization of labor resources. They generally agreed that labor market conditions had improved somewhat over the intermeeting period, variously citing solid increases in payroll employment and job openings; low levels of unemployment insurance claims; and, despite an unchanged unemployment rate, some further reduction in broader measures of underutilization, particularly among those not actively searching for jobs, but available and interested in work. Several participants pointed to some favorable trends that had developed over a longer period, such as the flattening out of the labor force participation rate and a shift in the flow of workers into more stable and higher-skilled jobs. A number of participants noted that the outlook for continued job gains was evident in reports on hiring intentions from business contacts in their Districts who indicated that more firms planned additions to their payrolls over the coming year than a year earlier. While the cumulative improvements in labor market conditions over the past year had been substantial, most participants judged that further progress would be required to eliminate underutilization of labor resources; some of them anticipated that the utilization gap would close around the end of the year. Several other participants indicated that, in their view, labor market slack had already been largely eliminated. The ongoing rise in labor demand appeared to have begun to result in a firming of wage increases. Recent readings on the employment cost index, hourly compensation, and average hourly earnings of employees suggested some acceleration in wages. According to business contacts in a number of Districts, many firms looking for new workers said they had been raising wages selectively to attract them; some had also begun to raise wages more generally. However, several participants pointed out that, even with the recent upturn, wage increases remain subdued. Participants discussed how the incoming information regarding inflation influenced their expectations for reaching the FOMC's 2 percent inflation objective over the medium term. Total PCE inflation continued to run below the Committee's objective. However, participants noted that the apparent stabilization of crude oil prices and the foreign exchange value of the dollar would reduce the downward pressure on inflation from falling prices of energy and imported goods. Core PCE price inflation, as measured on a 12-month change basis, had slowed slightly from an already low rate. However, several participants pointed out that the 3-month change in that index had firmed recently, signaling some improvement in the inflation outlook. In addition, some cited alternative measures of inflation, such as the trimmed mean and median consumer price indexes (CPIs) and the trimmed mean PCE, which continued to run at higher levels than overall PCE inflation. Survey measures of longer-term inflation expectations remained stable, and market-based measures of inflation compensation, while still low, were higher than earlier in the year. Nonetheless, a couple of participants continued to be concerned that the extended period of low inflation might persist and feed through to inflation expectations, citing estimates from various inflation forecasting models and the downtrend in the 10-year CPI projections in the Survey of Professional Forecasters. Participants continued to anticipate that, with appropriate monetary policy, inflation would move up to or toward the Committee's objective over the medium term. Among the factors influencing the trajectories of their inflation forecasts were their outlooks for the pace of real activity, labor market conditions and wage developments, and inflation expectations. In their discussion of financial market developments over the intermeeting period, several participants commented on the rise in the 10-year Treasury yield, which accompanied a steeper run-up in the 10-year German yield. The sharp rise in German yields appeared to reflect a retracing of the earlier decline in German rates to unsustainably low levels. It was noted that the increase in U.S. yields was not especially large in a historical context and that volatility in U.S. fixed-income markets was still somewhat below pre-crisis levels. However, many participants expressed concern that a failure of Greece and its official creditors to resolve their differences could result in disruptions in financial markets in the euro area, with possible spillover effects on the United States. And some participants reiterated the importance of effective Committee communications in reducing the likelihood of an outsized financial market reaction around the time that policy normalization begins. During their discussion of economic conditions and monetary policy, participants commented on a number of considerations associated with the timing and pace of policy normalization. Most participants judged that the conditions for policy firming had not yet been achieved; a number of them cautioned against a premature decision. Many participants emphasized that, in order to determine that the criteria for beginning policy normalization had been met, they would need additional information indicating that economic growth was strengthening, that labor market conditions were continuing to improve, and that inflation was moving back toward the Committee's objective. Other concerns that were mentioned were the potential erosion of the Committee's credibility if inflation were to persist below 2 percent and the limited ability of monetary policy to offset downside shocks to inflation and economic activity when the federal funds rate was at its effective lower bound. Some participants viewed the economic conditions for increasing the target range for the federal funds rate as having been met or were confident that they would be met shortly. They identified several possible risks associated with delaying the start of policy firming. One such risk was the possibility that the Committee might need to tighten more rapidly than financial markets currently anticipate--an outcome that could be associated with a significant rise in longer-term interest rates or heightened financial market volatility. Another was that prolonging a high degree of monetary policy accommodation might result in an undesirable increase in inflation or might have adverse consequences for financial and macroeconomic stability. It was also pointed out that a prompt start to normalization would likely convey the Committee's confidence in prospects for the economy. During the discussion, a number of participants recommended that, around the time of the first increase in the target range, the Committee consider how it would update its communications regarding the likely path of the federal funds rate, with several indicating that the Committee should remain data dependent in making adjustments to the target range. Participants also discussed plans for publishing operational details regarding the implementation of monetary policy around the time of the first increase in the target range. All participants supported a staff proposal for the Federal Reserve to issue an implementation note that would communicate separately from the Committee's postmeeting policy statement the specific measures to be employed to implement the FOMC's decision about the stance of policy. Following scheduled FOMC meetings, this implementation note would be released at the same time as the Committee's postmeeting statement; it would convey operational details regarding the settings of the policy tools and the changes in administered rates being employed to achieve the Committee's desired stance of policy, and it would include the FOMC's domestic policy directive to the Desk. If adjustments to policy tools or administered rates subsequently proved necessary to implement an unchanged policy stance, the implementation note could be revised without altering the Committee's policy statement. Participants agreed that this strategy provided a number of advantages, including focusing the Committee's postmeeting statement on information about economic conditions and the stance of monetary policy; communicating the details of policymakers' operational decisions, including the FOMC's domestic policy directive, in one place; reducing the risk that Federal Reserve communications regarding any technical adjustments to the operation of its policy tools after the commencement of policy firming might be mistaken as conveying information about the stance of policy; and emphasizing that operational decisions regarding the Federal Reserve's policy tools will be made in concert by the Federal Reserve Board and the FOMC with the aim of maintaining the federal funds rate in the range established by the FOMC. Participants also discussed how the language of the domestic policy directive could be revised when the first increase in the target range for the federal funds rate becomes appropriate. It was noted that the Committee might, in addition to providing specific instructions to the Desk regarding operations at that time, update other language in the directive. Committee Policy Action In its discussion of monetary policy for the period ahead, the Committee agreed that the weakness in the first quarter was at least in part the result of transitory factors, and members anticipated that economic growth would resume in the second quarter. Although they expressed some uncertainty about the extent of the likely near-term pickup, members expected moderate economic growth over the medium term. Labor market conditions had improved somewhat further, and members anticipated further progress in coming months. Ongoing gains in employment and wages along with a high level of consumer confidence were expected to provide support to household spending. Signs of stronger housing activity were encouraging. However, the outlook for business investment remained soft, and net exports were likely to continue to be restrained by the earlier appreciation of the dollar. Inflation had been well below the Committee's longer-run objective, but, with oil prices and the foreign exchange value of the dollar stabilizing, members expected that inflation would gradually rise toward 2 percent over the medium term. Members thus saw economic conditions as continuing to approach those consistent with warranting a start to the normalization of the stance of monetary policy. In these circumstances, members agreed to continue making decisions about the appropriate target range for the federal funds rate on a meeting-by-meeting basis, with their decisions depending on the implications of economic and financial developments for the prospects for labor markets and inflation. With respect to its objective of maximum employment, the Committee judged that, on balance, a range of labor market indicators suggested that underutilization of labor resources had diminished somewhat over the intermeeting period. Most members saw room for additional progress in reducing labor market slack, while a couple of members indicated that they viewed the unemployment rate as very close or essentially identical to its mandate-consistent level. Many expected that labor market underutilization would be largely eliminated around year-end if economic activity strengthened as they expected. However, some members were more uncertain about the extent of progress in the labor market to date or were concerned that if the pace of economic growth remained slow, labor market conditions might improve only gradually. Most agreed that they would need more information on developments in the labor market to establish a solid basis for assessing whether labor market conditions had improved sufficiently to initiate tightening. Inflation had continued to run below the Committee's 2 percent objective. Most members agreed that the recent stability in crude oil prices had increased their confidence that the downward pressure on inflation from earlier declines in energy prices was abating, and some noted the recent stability of the foreign exchange value of the dollar, which could eventually stem the decline in prices of imports. Market-based measures of inflation compensation remained low, but they had risen some from their levels earlier in the year, and survey measures of inflation expectations continued to be stable. However, core inflation was still well below 2 percent. The Committee agreed to continue to monitor inflation developments closely. In considering the Committee's criteria for beginning policy normalization, all members but one indicated that they would need to see more evidence that economic growth was sufficiently strong and labor market conditions had firmed enough to return inflation to the Committee's longer-run objective over the medium term; one member was already reasonably confident of such an outcome. The Committee concluded that, although it had seen some progress, the conditions warranting an increase in the target range for the federal funds rate had not yet been met, and that additional information on the outlook, particularly for labor markets and inflation, would be necessary before deciding to implement such an increase. One member, however, indicated a readiness to take that step at this meeting but also expressed a willingness to wait another meeting or two for additional data before raising the target range. In considering how to communicate the rationale for the Committee's policy decision, members discussed the importance of adjusting the language in the postmeeting statement to acknowledge the evolution of progress toward the Committee's objectives. The Committee judged it appropriate to communicate that it had seen some further improvement in labor market conditions over the intermeeting period, stating that a range of labor market indicators suggested that underutilization of labor resources diminished somewhat. It also decided to indicate the likelihood that energy prices might soon exert less downward influence on inflation, saying that energy prices appeared to have stabilized, and to restate its expectation that inflation would rise gradually toward 2 percent over the medium term as the labor market improves further and the transitory effects of earlier declines in energy and import prices dissipate. The Committee agreed to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 0 to 1/4 percent and to reaffirm in the statement that the Committee's decision about how long to maintain the current target range for the federal funds rate would depend on its assessment of actual and expected progress toward its objectives of maximum employment and 2 percent inflation. Members continued to judge that their evaluation of progress on their objectives would 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. Members agreed to retain the indication that the Committee anticipates that it will be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate when it has seen further improvement in the labor market and is reasonably confident that inflation will move back to its 2 percent objective over the medium term. The Committee also maintained its policy of reinvesting principal payments from agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities in agency mortgage-backed securities and of rolling over maturing Treasury securities at auction. This policy, by keeping the Committee's holdings of longer-term securities at sizable levels, should help maintain accommodative financial conditions. The Committee agreed to reiterate its expectation that, even after employment and inflation are near mandate-consistent levels, economic conditions may, for some time, warrant keeping the target federal funds rate below levels the Committee views as normal in the longer run. At the conclusion of the discussion, the Committee voted to authorize and direct the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, until it was instructed otherwise, to execute transactions in the SOMA in accordance with the following domestic policy directive: "Consistent with its statutory mandate, the Federal Open Market Committee seeks monetary and financial conditions that will foster maximum employment and price stability. In particular, the Committee seeks conditions in reserve markets consistent with federal funds trading in a range from 0 to 1/4 percent. The Committee directs the Desk to undertake open market operations as necessary to maintain such conditions. The Committee directs the Desk to maintain its policy of rolling over maturing Treasury securities into new issues and its policy of reinvesting principal payments on all agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities in agency mortgage-backed securities. The Committee also directs the Desk to engage in dollar roll and coupon swap transactions as necessary to facilitate settlement of the Federal Reserve's agency mortgage-backed securities transactions. The System Open Market Account manager and the secretary will keep the Committee informed of ongoing developments regarding the System's balance sheet that could affect the attainment over time of the Committee's objectives of maximum employment and price stability." The vote encompassed approval of the statement below to be released at 2:00 p.m.: "Information received since the Federal Open Market Committee met in April suggests that economic activity has been expanding moderately after having changed little during the first quarter. The pace of job gains picked up while the unemployment rate remained steady. On balance, a range of labor market indicators suggests that underutilization of labor resources diminished somewhat. Growth in household spending has been moderate and the housing sector has shown some improvement; however, business fixed investment and net exports stayed soft. Inflation continued to run below the Committee's longer-run objective, partly reflecting earlier declines in energy prices and decreasing prices of non-energy imports; energy prices appear to have stabilized. Market-based measures of inflation compensation remain low; survey-based measures of longer-term inflation expectations have remained stable. Consistent with its statutory mandate, the Committee seeks to foster maximum employment and price stability. The Committee expects that, with appropriate policy accommodation, economic activity will expand at a moderate pace, with labor market indicators continuing to move toward levels the Committee judges consistent with its dual mandate. The Committee continues to see the risks to the outlook for economic activity and the labor market as nearly balanced. Inflation is anticipated to remain near its recent low level in the near term, but the Committee expects inflation to rise gradually toward 2 percent over the medium term as the labor market improves further and the transitory effects of earlier declines in energy and import prices dissipate. The Committee continues to monitor inflation developments closely. To support continued progress toward maximum employment and price stability, the Committee today reaffirmed its view that the current 0 to 1/4 percent target range for the federal funds rate remains appropriate. In determining how long to maintain this target range, the Committee will assess progress--both realized and expected--toward 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. The Committee anticipates that it will be appropriate to raise the target range for the federal funds rate when it has seen further improvement in the labor market and is reasonably confident that inflation will move back to its 2 percent objective over the medium term. 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. This policy, by keeping the Committee's holdings of longer-term securities at sizable levels, should help maintain accommodative financial conditions. When the Committee decides to begin to remove policy accommodation, it will take a balanced approach consistent with its longer-run goals of maximum employment and inflation of 2 percent. The Committee currently anticipates that, even after employment and inflation are near mandate-consistent levels, economic conditions may, for some time, warrant keeping the target federal funds rate below levels the Committee views as normal in the longer run." Voting for this action: Janet L. Yellen, William C. Dudley, Lael Brainard, Charles L. Evans, Stanley Fischer, Jeffrey M. Lacker, Dennis P. Lockhart, Jerome H. Powell, Daniel K. Tarullo, and John C. Williams. Voting against this action: None. It was agreed that the next meeting of the Committee would be held on Tuesday-Wednesday, July 28-29, 2015. The meeting adjourned at 10:40 a.m. on June 17, 2015. Notation Votes By notation vote completed on May 19, 2015, the Committee unanimously approved the minutes of the Committee meeting held on April 28-29, 2015. By notation vote completed on June 3, 2015, the Committee unanimously approved the selection of Brian F. Madigan to serve as secretary, effective June 4, 2015, until the selection of a successor at the first regularly scheduled meeting of the Committee in 2016.Join the conversation about this story » NOW WATCH: Take a tour of the $367 million jet that will soon be called Air Force One


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