Can The Fed Really Raise Rates Amid All This Chaos?

On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve released its June meeting minutes to eager investors looking for clues about the bank's rate hike timeline.

The minutes showed that although most Fed members are still dubious about raising interest rates in the near future, a rate hike is likely before the end of the year.

Data Driven

The Fed has consistently said it will raise rates when data shows that the U.S. economy is strong enough to stand on its own. The bank has been focused on ensuring that the labor market is improving, economic growth is solid and inflation is heading toward the Fed's two percent target.

While current reports indicate that the U.S. is moving in that direction, most of the bank's members agree that the nation isn't quite there yet.

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What About Greece And China?

The turmoil in both Greece and China were not accounted for in the bank's minutes this month. As China's stock market slide only began recently and Greece looked set to make an agreement with its creditors at the time of the last FOMC meeting, the bank didn't take into account all of the chaos that has sprung up this week.

Will They?

The bank will be forced to acknowledge external factors in its decision making process as the global economy is tied into U.S. economic performance. However, depending how the situations in Greece and China play out in the coming days, the bank may conclude that the U.S. is strong enough to weather this storm and proceed with this year's planned rate hike.