Slowing Growth Cited at August Fed Meeting

The Federal Reserve’s rate-setting committee voted 10-0 to keep interest rates unchanged in August amid signs some steam is going out of the economy because of past rate rises. “The statistical evidence reviewed by the [Federal Open Market] Committee . . . pointed to a noticeable slowing in the expansion of demand and economic activity,” said minutes released Thursday of the Aug. 22 session on rate strategy. Although policymakers foresaw a modest rise in inflation as “a distinct possibility,” partly because of costly energy, they felt that productivity increases were keeping a lid on the rate of price rises. The FOMC met again Tuesday and once more kept rates steady, the third straight meeting at which the central bank’s policymakers have left rates unchanged after pushing them up six times between mid-1999 and May.