Fed meeting notes further progress on inflation near target

Fed meeting notes show that participants noted that inflation has eased over the past year, but remains elevated. In recent months, inflation has made some further progress toward the Committee's 2% inflation target. Participants noted that recent progress on disinflation has been broad-based and involves major components of core inflation. Core commodity prices were largely flat from March to June of this year, after rising in the first three months of the year. Housing service price inflation slowed markedly in June, something participants had been expecting for some time. Regarding the inflation outlook, participants felt that recent data reinforced their confidence in a sustained march toward 2% inflation. Almost all participants noted that the factors that have contributed to the recent decline in inflation are likely to continue to put downward pressure on inflation in the coming months.