Eye On Housing
In Janet Yellen’s final meeting as Chair, the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC or Committee) voted unanimously to maintain the federal funds rate, its short-term policy rate, at a range of 1.25 percent and 1.50 percent, a level it deems “accommodative”. According to estimates of financial markets expectations, this decision was widely expected. Calculations of the appropriate level for the… Read More ›
Tag Archive for ‘monetary policy’
Fed Raises Key Rate, Balance Sheet Normalization to Accelerate in January
In its statement following its December 12-13, 2017 meeting, the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) decided to raise the target range for the federal funds rate to a range of 1.25 to 1.5 percent, a decision that was widely expected. Despite the increase, the FOMC believes that the “stance of monetary policy remains accommodative”. As illustrated by the Federal Reserve… Read More ›
Fed Leaves Rates Unchanged, Current Range Deemed “Accommodative”
On Wednesday, November 1, the Federal Open Markets Committee (“FOMC”) decided to leave its interest rate, the federal funds rate, unchanged at a range of 1.00 to 1.25 percent. Although the effects of the past hurricanes have reversed the longer trend in both employment and inflation, the hurricanes’ impacts are expected to fade and the longer-trend will reappear. In the… Read More ›
Implications Of FOMC Normalization Process For Mortgage Rates
In its statement, the Federal Open Markets Committee (FOMC) left its key interest rate unchanged at a range of 1.0 to 1.25 percent. As signaled in its last statement, the FOMC, beginning in October, will initiate the balance sheet normalization program. The contents of this program are described in the June 2017 Addendum to the Committee’s Policy Normalization Principles and… Read More ›
FOMC Balance Sheet Normalization Coming “Relatively Soon”
In a statement following its two-day meeting covering July 25 and 26, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC or the Committee) decided to “maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 1 to 1.25 percent”. All FOMC members voted in favor of this decision. In its statement, the FOMC maintains that, at this level, “the stance of monetary policy remains… Read More ›
The Employment Situation in May – Job Gains Down, Another Slow Day for the Labor Force
The BLS released the Employment Situation report for May. Payroll employment increased by 138 thousand, and the prior two months were revised downward by a total of 66 thousand. The unemployment rate fell to 4.3% from 4.4% in April, but only because the number of people in the labor force declined faster than the number of people employed in the… Read More ›
May Meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee – From Idea to Proposal
Beyond confirming that if economic activity continues to unfold as expected another increase in the federal funds rate would be appropriate soon (June), the minutes from the May meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) added relatively little to the picture of the path of monetary policy that was laid out in the post-meeting statement and previous policy discussions…. Read More ›
May Meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee – Accentuate the Positive
Economic activity sputtered in the first quarter, job growth stumbled in March, and inflation turned negative at both the headline and core (excluding food and energy) levels. Policymakers on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) “decided to maintain the target range for the federal funds rate at 3/4 to 1 percent” and pronounced “Near-term risks to the economic outlook appear… Read More ›
March Meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee – A Closer Look
The minutes from meetings of the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy setting body, the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC), traditionally released three weeks after the meeting, provide a closer look at the deliberations, than the brief statement released immediately following the meetings. The minutes from the March meeting provide deeper insights in two particular areas: the path of the federal funds… Read More ›
March Meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee – Meeting Expectations
Expectations were high that the March meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) would end with an announcement of a 25 basis point increase in the target range for the federal funds rate. Those expectations were met, and at the press conference following the meeting, when asked why the third increase came so quickly, after the first two came… Read More ›