“The Federal Reserve Board and the Federal Open Market Committee on Wednesday released the attached minutes of the Committee meeting held on July 28-29, 2015. The minutes for each regularly scheduled meeting of the Committee ordinarily are made available three weeks after the day of the policy decision and subsequently are published in the Board’s Annual Report. The descriptions of economic and financial conditions contained in these minutes are based solely on the information that was available to the Committee at the time of the meeting. FOMC minutes can be viewed on the Board’s website at http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/fomccalendars.htm

“…After declining for five consecutive months, industrial production rose in June, partly reflecting an increase in the output of mines. Nonetheless, for the second quarter as a whole, mining output contracted sharply and manufacturing production rose only modestly; both sectors were weak over the first half of the year, likely reflecting the continuing effects of earlier increases in the foreign exchange value of the dollar and lower crude oil prices. Automakers’ assembly schedules pointed to a solid gain in light motor vehicle production in the third quarter, but broader indicators of manufacturing production, including readings on new orders from national and regional manufacturing surveys, generally suggested only modest increases in factory output in the coming months. Real personal consumption expenditures (PCE) appeared to have risen at a solid pace in the second quarter. The components of the nominal retail sales data used by the Bureau of Economic Analysis to construct its estimate of PCE edged down in June, but the decline for that group of components followed a strong reading in May. Similarly, light vehicle sales in June partly reversed a large increase in May but remained robust. Among the factors that influence household spending, real disposable income rose in May 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 July remained near its highest level since before the most recent recession.”