Archive for the ‘Open Market Committee’ tag
Translating The Federal Reserve’s Announcement Into English (August 5, 2008)
For the second consecutive meeting, the Federal Open Market Committee left the Fed Funds Rate unchanged at 2.000 percent.
The key comment — which also appeared in its June statement — is below:
Over time, the substantial easing of monetary policy, combined with ongoing measures to foster market liquidity, should help to promote moderate economic growth.
Translated, it reads:
Rate and policy changes we made until this point have yet to work their way through the economy, but when they do, we expect them to right the economic ship.
In other words, the Fed will likely stay on pause through its September 16 meeting unless something freaky happens. The Fool in the Shower, by the way, is one such freak.
Source
Parsing the Fed Statement
The Wall Street Journal Online
August 5, 2008
http://online.wsj.com/internal/mdc/info-fedparse0808.html
Fed Watch: FOMC’s Window of Opportunity for Rate Hike Now Closed
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is once
again expected to leave rates where they are as it continues to assess
the extent of recent signs of weakness in the U.S. economy.
Julian Jessop of Capital Economics said that given the Fed didn’t move
on interest rates in June, the odds of a change in rates now is even less
likely.
However, Jessop said there is a chance Charles Plosser will join
fellow FOMC hawk Richard Fisher in voting for an immediate rate
hike…
Fed Watch: Bernanke Testimony Focuses on Growth, FOMC Minutes Released
Current Rate: 2.00%
Next Rate Decision: Aug. 5
Market
Expectations: The OIS implied rate suggests markets are 16% priced in for
a 25bp hike at the next meeting and are pricing in a 41%
chance of a quarter-point hike at the September meeting.
Last week was a fairly busy week for Federal Reserve news, with two
days of testimony from Chairman Ben Bernanke before the Senate Banking
Committee on Tuesday and the House of Representatives’ Committee on
Financial Services on Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, the Federal Open
Market Committee released the minutes from its June 24-25 monetary policy
meeting.