The FOMC said that they will keep buying mortgage bonds according to their $500b by June schedule and also said they will keep going if necessary. They left rates alone. Mortgage bonds sold off heavily after the Fed meeting, ostensibly because they also said they’d buy long-term Treasuries as well, which contribute to already diluted
Donald Kohn
Below is the full statement from the Federal Open Market Committee from their final meeting of 2008. They cut the overnight bank-to-bank Fed Funds Rate to a target range of 0 to .25% and cut the Fed-to-bank Discount Rate to 0.5%. They also reiterated their commitment to purchase up to $500b in mortgage bonds in
The Federal Open Market Committee today cut the bank-to-bank Fed Funds Rate 50bps to 1% and the Fed-to-bank Discount Rate 50bps to 1.25%, citing a marked decline in consumer expenditures. These cuts to short term rate are aimed at getting short-term business-to-business lending back on track, which then feeds down to the consumer. Since most
By holding the bank-to-bank Fed Funds Rate at 2% and the Fed-to-bank Discount rate at 2.25% at their FOMC meeting today, the Fed proved that the financial storm that’s been blowing since August 2007 requires much more than rate cuts. It’s not so much about the price of money right now, but rather the availability
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
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
What do oil prices and Clinton’s campaign bills have in common? They’re both increasing dramatically. According to the LA Times, Hilary Clinton’s campaign debt has now soared to nearly $31 million, including another $9.5 million in unpaid bills to vendors this past month alone. And oil rose above $130 a barrel for the first time
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
Wells Fargo posted a $2 billion profit in the first quarter on record revenue of $10.6 billion, whereas Washington Mutual, the nation’s sixth-largest originator, lost $1.14 billion. And JPMorgan Chase did better than both, reporting net income of $2.4 billion for the first quarter 2008. And poor Merrill Lynch posted its third straight quarterly loss:
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