How do the FOMC Minutes compare to the last time the Fed hiked?

[thenews]

Comparison of the April 2016 FOMC Minutes to the October 2015 Minutes

The last time the FOMC hiked rates was in December. Before the announcement, one of the big signals they sent came in the Minutes of the final FOMC meeting beforehand. That took place on October 27-28 and the Minutes were released in November.

Here is exactly what those Minutes said.

"Some participants thought that the conditions for beginning the policy normalization process had already been met. Most participants anticipated that, based on their assessment of the current economic situation and their outlook for economic activity, the labor market, and inflation, these conditions could well be met by the time of the next meeting."

That commentary on the 'next meeting' found its way into the statement. This time, both the statement was far less explicit but the FOMC Minutes have some similarities.

"Most participants judged that if incoming data were consistent with economic growth picking up in the second quarter, labor market conditions continuing to strengthen, and inflation making progress toward the Committee's 2 percent objective, then it likely would be appropriate for the Committee to increase the target range for the federal funds rate in June."