Eye On Housing
The Federal Reserve Board recently reported that consumer credit outstanding rose by a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.7%, $193.0 billion, in May 2015, slower than the 7.6% rate of growth recorded in April 2015. Consumer credit outstanding now totals $3.401 trillion. The expansion of total consumer credit outstanding partly reflected an increase in the outstanding amount of non-revolving consumer credit. Non-revolving… Read More ›
The minutes from the meetings of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy setting committee, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), are regularly released three weeks after the meeting and provide a more detailed view of the deliberations than the statement released at the conclusion of the meeting. The most valuable insight from the minutes of the June meeting is that all… Read More ›
The Federal Reserve’s monetary policy setting committee, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), concluded its June meeting and confirmed the generally held expectation of no increase in the federal funds rate at this meeting. While the June meeting was widely regarded as the likely timing of “lift-off” late last year and early this year, the consensus had shifted to later… Read More ›
According to a Federal Reserve analysis, U.S. households surveyed during October 2014 reported only modest improvements with respect to economic well-being but felt increasingly optimistic about the future. The Survey of Household Economics and Decisionmaking (SHED), first conducted in 2013, complements the triennial Survey of Consumer Finances, the Federal Reserve’s key report on household wealth. Among the housing-focused findings of the report: 74%… Read More ›
Minutes released from the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) April meeting strongly suggest that June is off the table for the timing of the first increase in the federal funds rate. Publically, no one inside the Fed has been willing to admit it, outside the Fed few still consider it a real possibility, but now it’s as official as it… Read More ›
The Federal Reserve’s monetary policy setting committee, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), concluded its April meeting with a statement downgrading its assessment of the economic outlook but offered no indication of any change in policy with respect to the timing of the first increase in interest rates. The committee stuck to its language from the March statement, repeating that… Read More ›
Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting March 17-18 reveal relatively little new information about the deliberations beyond what was available from the post-meeting statement and press conference (March Meeting). Economic growth appears to have moderated somewhat in the first quarter, the labor market has improved markedly but indicators of underutilization remain, and… Read More ›
Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen’s main point at the press conference following the conclusion of the March 17-18 Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting was that the Fed was prepared to be “less patient, but not impatient” with regard to the timing of the first hike in interest rates, presumably to rattle the cage of the June meeting consensus that… Read More ›
Minutes from the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting January 27-28 reveal an as yet unsettled discussion regarding the timing of the first increase in the federal funds rate, but the weight of the conflicting views appears to be shifting toward a liftoff later than the current expectation of mid-2015. Declining energy prices were viewed… Read More ›
No major surprises were revealed in the standard summary statement released following the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting January 27-28. With economic output expanding, strong job growth and a declining unemployment rate the committee has shifted its focus to below target (2 percent) inflation as the primary threat to the continuing economic recovery. The… Read More ›