(Adds analyst quotes and auction results, updates prices) By Karen Brettell NEW YORK, Aug 18 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury yields fell on Wednesday after minutes from the Federal Reserve"s July meeting showed that Fed officials felt the employment benchmark for decreasing support for the economy "could be reached this year," but had not yet been satisfied. "Most participants anticipated that the economy would continue to make progress toward those goals" and that the standard "could be reached this year," according to the minutes, but there was disagreement over how soon the Fed should wait to reduce bond purchases. "It"s clear from the minutes that the Fed isn"t ready to start tapering yet, but they are leaning towards making an announcement by the end of the year at the latest," Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer for Independent Advisor Alliance, said in a note. Many analysts and economists expect the Fed to announce a taper in December, with bond purchase reductions likely to begin in early 2022. Benchmark 10-year notes fell to 1.273%, after rising to a session high of 1.300% before the minutes were released. "There wasn"t a lot in there," said Guy LeBas, chief fixed income strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia. "The financial, market and economic support reasons for continuing bond purchases are fading a little bit with normalizing inflation and a stronger labor market, and so it stands to reason that the policymakers will begin reducing those purchases relatively soon." Powell is also due to speak at the Fed"s annual economic symposium next week in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and investors will be watching for any signs that the Fed is becoming more concerned about the spread of COVID-19 variants including Delta. New Zealand"s central bank delayed raising rates on Wednesday as policymakers quickly shifted gears after the country was put into a snap COVID-19 lockdown over a handful of new cases. The Treasury saw strong demand for a $27 billion sale of 20-year bonds. The debt sold at a high yield of 1.850%, less than a basis point lower than where the bonds had traded before the auction. The sale "was very well received. It priced aggressively and garnered solid, near record, demand," Kim Rupert, managing director for fixed income at Action Economics, said in a note. The Treasury will also sell $8 billion in 30-year Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities (TIPS) on Thursday. August 18 Wednesday 3:31PM New York / 1931 GMT Price Current Net Yield % Change (bps) Three-month bills 0.06 0.0608 -0.013 Six-month bills 0.05 0.0507 -0.002 Two-year note 99-208/256 0.2215 0.006 Three-year note 99-210/256 0.4356 0.011 Five-year note 99-64/256 0.7798 0.016 Seven-year note 99-162/256 1.0549 0.015 10-year note 99-200/256 1.2734 0.015 20-year bond 107-88/256 1.806 -0.006 30-year bond 102-8/256 1.9107 -0.008 DOLLAR SWAP SPREADS Last (bps) Net Change (bps) U.S. 2-year dollar swap 9.00 -0.25 spread U.S. 3-year dollar swap 10.00 -0.25 spread U.S. 5-year dollar swap 8.25 0.25 spread U.S. 10-year dollar swap 1.25 0.50 spread U.S. 30-year dollar swap -28.00 1.75 spread (Reporting by Karen Brettell; Editing by Will Dunham and Nick Zieminski) Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.