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
Randall Kroszner
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
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
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
Fixed and ARM rates are up by almost .5% since last week, and we’re still seeing .25% to .375% swings from day to day. Rates drop on recession concerns and rise on inflation concerns, and markets can’t decide which is the bigger issue. This is the reason for the volatility, and rates are up because