Positive Economic Conditions Could Soon Warrant an Interest Rate Hike, Fed Says

— -- Federal Reserve officials anticipate that because of improved economic conditions, a hike in interest rates "was or would soon be warranted."

Minutes released on Wednesday summarizing their July discussions cited two positive economic developments that could encourage the Fed to hike interest rates: "the pickup in job gains in June" and a "prompt recovery in financial markets following the Brexit vote," despite earlier concerns about how the British vote to exit the European Union could affect U.S. markets.

The minutes stated that the Brexit did not appear to pose a threat to the U.S. economy in the near term and that recent, positive GDP and jobs numbers "provided some reassurance that a sharp slowdown in employment and economic activity was not underway."

At least one of the committee's 10 members who were present believed that a hike should have occurred immediately.

However, the Fed did not set a date for a interest rate hike at the meeting, as is routine.

Michael Gapen, the chief U.S. economist for Barclays, believes that a hike will likely come next month but said it all depends on whether the Federal Reserve officials focus on employment or inflation data more.

"Given what they've said so far," he said, a hike "would make sense for September."

Inflation has consistently run below the committee's targets recently, and the the job market has shown better-than-expected gains in the past two months.

Gapen believes that a strong jobs report for August (which will be released in early September) would strongly encourage a rate hike.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.