Following their meeting today, the Federal Open Market Committee kept the bank-to-bank Fed Funds Rate at 2% and the Fed-to-bank Discount Rate at 2.25%, and said that “The Committee expects inflation to moderate later this year and next year, but the inflation outlook remains highly uncertain.” This is following their June 25 statement where they [...]
Posts Tagged ‘Charles Plosser’
Philly Fed President Charles Plosser: Inflation Crusader
Charles Plosser, Philadelphia Fed president and voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee that sets benchmark rates, has spoken publicly twice since CPI and PPI came out last week. He’s a well-known inflation hawk, having dissented on the April 30 quarter-point cut and the March 18 three-quarter point cut, and he voted on June [...]
FOMC Keeps Fed Funds At 2%, Discount Rate At 2.25% (Full Statement & Analysis)
Following their June 24-25 meeting today, the Federal Open Market Committee kept the Fed Funds Rate at 2% and the Discount Rate at 2.25%, and said that “uncertainty about the inflation outlook remains high,” and “upside risks to inflation and inflation expectations have increased.” This is a slight shift from their April 30 meeting where [...]
FOMC Cuts Fed Funds To 2%, Discount Rate To 2.25% (Full Statement)
The Federal Open Market Committee cut the Fed Funds Rate to 2% and the Discount Rate to 2.25% today, and implied that weak economic activity and inflationary threats (especially in energy and commodity prices) may offset each other. Since August, the Fed has cut the bank-to-bank Fed Funds Rate 3.25% (from 5.25% to 2.0%), and [...]
WeeklyBasis 4/21/08: Rate Volatility Continues, BofA Profit Down 77%, National City To Raise $7b
Fixed and ARM rates open this week about even, but not after extreme volatility since my last WeeklyBasis report two weeks ago. As Friday’s trading proved, it’s still normal to see rate swings of as much as .5% in a single day, so lock strategy right now is focused on setting rate targets with clients [...]
How Do You Lock When Rates Swing .5% Per Day?
After Google reported first quarter earnings growth of 42% yesterday, Google shares soared $89 or 20% today to $539.41, and helped push the Nasdaq up by 61 points and the Dow by 229 points.
Fed Cuts Discount & Fed Funds 75bps Each, Mortgages Higher
After today’s scheduled FOMC meeting, markets expected a Fed Funds Rate cut of 100 basis points, but the Fed only cut by 75 bps. The Fed Funds Rate, a bank-to-bank lending rate, now stands at 2.25%. The Prime Rate is Fed Funds + 3%, so Prime is now 5.25%. Home Equity Line of Credit 2nd [...]
WeeklyBasis 03/03/08: New Fed Approach: Too Much Disclosure
Fixed and ARM rates rose .5% two weeks ago, dropped .5% last week, then rose about .25% today following an ISM Index number that showed February manufacturing activity better than expected. Rates also moved up on public comments from Philadelphia Fed President Charles Plosser, a voting member of the rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee. He [...]
