Committee participants began their discussions related to the ongoing review of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy strategy, tools, and communication practices. Staff briefings provided a retrospective on the Federal Reserve's monetary policy actions since the financial crisis, together with background and analysis regarding some key issues. In its policy response during the recession and the subsequent economic recovery, the Committee lowered the federal funds rate to its effective lower bound (ELB) and provided additional monetary policy accommodation through both forward guidance about the expected path of the policy rate and balance sheet policy. These actions eased financial conditions and provided substantial support to economic activity; they therefore figured importantly in helping promote the recovery in the labor market and in preventing inflation from falling substantially below the Committee's objective. The presentation noted, however, that over the past several years, inflation had tended to run modestly below the Committee's longer-run goal of 2 percent, while some indicators of longer-run inflation expectations currently stood at low levels. The staff also provided results from model simulations that illustrated possible challenges to the achievement of the Committee's dual-mandate goals over the medium term. These challenges included the proximity of the policy rate to the ELB, imprecise knowledge about the neutral value of the policy rate and the longer-run normal level of the unemployment rate, the diminished response of inflation to resource utilization, and uncertainty about the relationship between inflation expectations and inflation outcomes. tweet at 2:01pm: FOMC Minutes: Several Officials Favored Keeping Rates on Hold tweet at 2:01pm: FOMC MINUTES: TWO OFFICIALS WOULD HAVE PREFERRED TO CUT RATES BY 50 BASIS POINTS tweet at 2:00pm: FOMC MINUTES: TRADE-POLICY UNCERTAINTY SEEN AS ELEVATED AND LIKELY TO PERSISTFed members affirm ‘midcycle adjustment,’ see no ‘pre-set course’ for cuts, minutes show video Federal Reserve officials who voted to lower interest rates three weeks ago agreed that the move shouldn’t be viewed as an indication that there is a “pre-set course” for future cuts, according to meeting minutes released Wednesday. The summary indicated that policymakers viewed the move as a “mid-cycle adjustment,” an expression Chairman Jerome Powell used in a news conference afterward that was seen as contributing to a stock market sell-off after the July 30-31 meeting. Markets have been pricing in a series of rate cuts, so Powell’s use of the term spread concern that the Fed might not be as accommodative with policy as anticipated. Ultimately, the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets monetary policy, voted to lower the central bank’s benchmark rate by 25 basis points to a target range of 2% to 2.5%. It was the first rate cut in 11 years, dating to the financial crisis. However, members did not commit to future cuts. “In their discussion of the outlook for mon