Officials agreed their asset purchases would end with a final reduction of $15 billion after their October meeting if the economy progresses as they expect. The FOMC continued cutting the monthly pace of asset purchases in June, reducing it by $10 billion for a fifth straight meeting, to $35 billion.

Fed Chair Janet Yellen repeated at her press conference after the meeting the Fed is likely to reduce the pace of bond buying “in further measured steps.” Yellen is scheduled to deliver her semiannual testimony to the Senate July 15 and the House the next day.

The Fed’s asset buying has boosted the central bank’s balance sheet to a record $4.38 trillion, and volatility is low worldwide.

Volatility Index

The Chicago Board Options Exchange Volatility Index, which tracks contracts to protect against S&P 500 declines, remains near last week’s seven-year low of 10.32, about half its 20.05 average over its 24-year history. The Bank of America Merrill Lynch MOVE Index, which measures Treasury price swings based on options, and swings in the dollar versus the yen, both remain near record lows.

Officials last month agreed they must monitor markets for signs of froth and said that if necessary, supervisory measures should be used to “address excessive risk-taking and associated financial imbalances,” minutes show.

Central bankers last month also raised their forecasts for interest-rate increases. They estimated the main rate will be 1.13 percent at the end of 2015 and 2.5 percent a year later. In March, they forecast 1 percent at the end of next year and 2.25 percent in 2016.

Employment Goal

Fed officials are closing in on their goal of full employment faster than they had forecast, forcing them to consider accelerating their first increase in the main interest rate in eight years. The Fed has said rates are likely to remain low for a “considerable time” after it ends large scale asset purchases that are set to wind down by year end.

Payrolls surged in June by 288,000 workers, the Labor Department said last week. The jobless rate fell to 6.1 percent, a level that policy makers didn’t expect to see before the end of the year.

The minutes offered no new clues on the timing of an interest-rate increase, with officials saying policy depends most “on the evolution of the economic outlook.” The federal funds rate, which represents the cost of overnight money in the interbank market, has been held near zero since December 2008.

Central bankers continued discussing a strategy for the eventual exit from monetary easing. “It was observed that it would be useful for the committee to develop and communicate its plans to the public later this year, well before the first steps in normalizing policy become appropriate.”