Eye On Housing
The Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee held the federal funds rate at a top target rate of 5.5% at the conclusion of its September meeting. The Fed will also continue to reduce its balance sheet holdings of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities as part of quantitative tightening. These actions are intended to slow the economy and bring inflation back to 2%…. Read More ›
The Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee increased the federal funds rate to a top target of 5.5% at the conclusion of its July meeting. The Fed will also continue to reduce its balance sheet holdings of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities as part of quantitative tightening. These actions are intended to slow the economy and bring inflation back to 2%. After… Read More ›
The Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee maintained the federal funds rate at a top target rate of 5.25% at the conclusion of its June meeting. The Fed will also continue to reduce its balance sheet holdings of Treasuries and mortgage-backed securities. Despite the June pause, the Fed’s projections indicated perhaps two more rate hikes are in store in the coming… Read More ›
The Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee raised the federal funds target rate by 25 basis points at the conclusion of its May meeting. Although the communication from the Fed did not explicitly indicate that they are done tightening, language used in their statement signals the Fed is moving toward a more data-dependent posture, albeit one that retains a hawkish bias…. Read More ›
The Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee raised the federal funds target rate by 25 basis points but indicated that it was moving to a more data dependent mode as markets digest incoming risks for banks. The Fed is balancing two economic risks: ongoing elevated inflation and emerging risks to the banking system. Chair Powell noted that near-term uncertainty is high… Read More ›
Further downshifting its pace of tightening of monetary policy, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee raised the federal funds target rate by 25 basis points, increasing that target to an upper bound of 4.75%. This marked a smaller increase after four previous 75 basis point hikes and a decelerated 50 basis point increase last December. While not the end of… Read More ›
Downshifting its pace of tightening of monetary policy, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee raised the federal funds target rate by 50 basis points, increasing that target to an upper bound of 4.5%. This marked a relatively smaller increase after four previous 75 basis point hikes. The Fed has clearly communicated it will continue to tighten monetary policy however, raising… Read More ›
Continuing its tightening of financial conditions to bring the rate of inflation lower, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee raised the federal funds target rate by 75 basis points, increasing that target to an upper bound of 4%. This marks the fourth consecutive meeting with an increase of 75 basis points and pushes the fed funds rate to a 15-year… Read More ›
Continuing its tightening of financial conditions to bring the rate of inflation lower, the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy committee raised the federal funds target rate by 75 basis points, increasing that target to an upper bound of 3.25%. This marks the third consecutive meeting with an increase of 75 basis points. These supersized hikes are intended to move monetary policy… Read More ›
The construction labor market is cooling off as economic activity slows in response to tighter monetary policy per the latest job openings data. Given the Fed’s dual mandate of fighting inflation and maintaining maximum employment, macro price and jobs data are key to informing the Fed’s future policy moves. Inflation remains near a 40-year high and payroll employment growth is… Read More ›