FOMC statement
FOMC Statement, Forecasts, and Powell Press Conference
December 16, 2020
Today’s FOMC statement elaborates on text in the sentence dealing with monthly increased holdings of Treasury securities and agency mortgage-backed securities, spelling out the amounts of at least $80 billion in the former and at least $40 billion in the latter. Those figures in fact represent the current pace, so the added words do not […] More
FOMC Statement and Powell’s Press Conference
July 29, 2020
The Federal Open Market Committee ended its two-day policy review and released a statement that’s almost identical to the previous announcement on June 10. Just two sentences were added as indicated below, and none were deleted: Economic activity and employment have picked up somewhat in recent months but remain well below their levels at the […] More
FOMC Statement and Press Conference — Highlights and Analysis
June 10, 2020
Today’s FOMC statement is nearly identical to the one released after the late April meeting with the notable modification that financial market conditions, which then were being impaired by economic activity disruptions, have since improved. Policy measures, goals and intentions remain as before, but there is a hint that purchases of Treasuries and other bonds […] More
FOMC Statement
April 29, 2020
No surprises can be found in today’s just released statement. The federal funds target range was left at 0-0.25% with guidance reaffirmed that “the Committee expects to maintain this target range until it is confident that the economy has weathered recent events and is on track to achieve its maximum employment and price stability goals.” […] More
FOMC Statement and Powell News Conference
January 29, 2020
Three take-away points are to be noted about today’s FOMC statement: It was comparatively brief, using 46% fewer words than the previous meeting’s statement and revealed a unanimous decision, as expected, not to change the 1.5-1.75% federal funds target range. Today’s statement omits a lot of the forward guidance language such as the following from […] More
FOMC Statement Introduces More Ambiguity in Forward Guidance
October 30, 2019
A key sentence after the previous two rate cuts announced on July 31 and September 18th had read, “As the Committee contemplates the future path of the target range for the federal funds rate, it will continue to monitor the implications of incoming information for the economic outlook and will act as appropriate to sustain […] More
Federal Funds Rate Target Cut and Controlled Reduction of Fed Balance Sheet Suspended Two Months Sooner than Planned
July 31, 2019
The Federal Open Market Committee opted for a 25-basis point interest rate cut, not the 50-bp that some had urged. The released statement also revealed a decision to “conclude the reduction of its aggregate securities holdings in the System Open Market Account in August, two months earlier than previously indicated.” The Committee was divided in […] More
FOMC Releases Somewhat More Upbeat Statement and Keeps Interest Rate Target Unchanged
May 1, 2019
As expected, the federal funds rate target was left at 2-1/4 to 2-1/2%, its level since a 25-basis point hike in December. Officials after the last meeting in March indicated that a rate hike in 2019 is unlikely. Today’s statement reversed some economic downgrades that were made in March related to economic activity, overall inflation, […] More
FOMC No Longer Inclined to Hike Fed Funds Rate This Year
March 20, 2019
Today’s released FOMC statement asserts that the slowdown of growth in the final quarter of 2018 persisted in the early going of 2019. Headline inflation has declined, too, and market-based measures of inflation compensation “have remained low in recent months.” The final three paragraphs of the statement are identical to the one from January 30th. […] More
Today’s FOMC Statement on Monetary Policy – Analysis
January 30, 2019
Today’s statement accelerated the shift in forward guidance rate directionality away from a one-sided risk toward less accommodation and greater normalization by introducing an element of two-sided risk and less certainty about the timing and number of increases if such should be deemed appropriate. The prior statement on December 19 had added the bolded word “some” […] More
