Federal Reserve Economic Data

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Fixing the “Textbook Lag” with FRED (Part II)

Monetary policy in a world of ample reserves

Your economics textbook may still say the Federal Reserve uses open market operations to influence the federal funds rate. But in today’s economy, the Fed uses different policy tools.

In simple terms, this is how monetary policy currently works: The FOMC sets a target range for the federal funds rate (FFR) and uses interest on excess reserves (IOER) and the overnight reverse repurchase agreement (ON RRP) facility to keep the FFR rate in the target range. (See our previous post for an introduction to this topic.)

The Fed pays IOER to banks holding reserves at the Fed, which offers those banks a safe, risk-free investment option. Arbitrage ensures that the FFR doesn’t drift too far from the IOER rate. If the FFR drifts much below the IOER rate, banks then have an incentive to borrow in the federal funds market at the lower FFR and deposit those reserves at the Fed to earn the higher IOER rate.

From December 16, 2008, to June 13, 2018, the IOER and ON RRP rates, respectively, served as the upper and lower limits of the FFR target range. The FFR moved between the two rates, but over time it has moved closer to the IOER—that is, the gap between the two has closed, as shown in the FRED graph above.

Again, because the IOER rate was set at the upper limit of the target range, as the FFR moved closer to the IOER rate, by definition it moved closer to the upper limit of the range. To ensure that the FFR remained within the range, the Fed has lowered the IOER rate by 5 basis points at three different times in the past year: June 13, 2018; December 19, 2018; and May 1, 2019. The IOER is now set 15 basis points below the upper limit of the target range.

These changes weren’t changes in monetary policy (which affects the choice of target range), but rather were slight adjustments to where the FFR sits within the range. Chairman Jerome Powell explained that the adjustments were intended to “move the federal funds rate closer to the middle of the target range” in his press conference on June 13, 2018. The changes can be seen on the FRED graph below: Prior to the June 13, 2018, adjustment, the upper limit of the FFR target range and the IOER rate were indistinguishable because IOER rate was set at the upper limit of the target range. After June 13, 2018, the IOER rate (green line) is below the upper limit of the FFR target range (red line).

These changes have ensured that the FFR has remained between the upper and lower limits of the range throughout the period, as illustrated by the FRED graph below.

How these graphs were created: For the first graph: Search for “interest rate on excess reserves,” select “Effective Federal Funds Rate (daily)” and “Interest Rate on Excess Reserves,” and then click “Add to Graph.” Adjust the dates to reflect the indicated range: from December 16, 2008, to the current date. For the second graph: Search for “federal funds rate target” and select “Federal Funds Target Range – Upper Limit,” “Federal Funds Rate – Lower Limit,” and “Effective Federal Funds Rate (daily),” and then click “Add to Graph.” From the “Edit Graph” panel, use the “Add Line” option to search for “Interest Rate on Excess Reserves” and then select “Add data series.” Adjust the dates to reflect the indicated range: from January 1, 2018, to the current date. For the third graph: Search for “federal funds rate target” and select “Federal Funds Target Range – Upper Limit,” “Federal Funds Rate – Lower Limit,” and “Effective Federal Funds Rate (daily),” and then click “Add to Graph.” Adjust to date to show the entire period: from December 16, 2008, to the current date. In each case, you can adjust the colors to your liking by using the color palette in the “Edit Graph” panel’s “Format” tab.

For more information on this topic, see “A New Frontier: Monetary Policy with Ample Reserves.”

Suggested by Scott Wolla.

View on FRED, series used in this post: DFEDTARL, DFEDTARU, DFF, IOER

Fixing the “Textbook Lag” with FRED (Part I)

Monetary policy in a world of ample reserves

Your economics textbook may still say the Federal Reserve uses open market operations to influence the federal funds rate. But in today’s economy, the Fed uses different policy tools.

Before September 2008, when reserves were scarce, the Federal Reserve bought and sold relatively small quantities of Treasury securities to adjust the level of bank reserves and influence the federal funds rate (FFR). But we now live in an environment of ample reserves. As such, the Federal Reserve can no longer effectively influence the FFR by making small changes in the supply of those reserves. Instead, the Fed uses its newer tools—paying interest on excess reserves (IOER) and the overnight reverse repurchase agreement (ON RRP) facility—to influence the FFR.

Since December 16, 2008, the FOMC has set a target range for the FFR, rather than a specific single target, and uses the rates on IOER and the ON RRP facility to keep the FFR rate in that target range. This process has ensured that the FFR has remained between the upper limit and the lower limit of the range.

The graph above tracks the actual FFR and the upper and lower limits of the range. Our next FRED Blog post provides more details. Stay tuned…

For more information on this topic, see “A New Frontier: Monetary Policy with Ample Reserves.”

How this graph was created: Search for “federal funds rate target”; select “Federal Funds Target Range – Upper Limit,” “Federal Funds Rate – Lower Limit,” and “Effective Federal Funds Rate (daily)”; and click “Add to Graph.” Adjust the date to show the entire period: December 16, 2008, to the current date. In each case, you can adjust the colors to your liking by using the color palette in the “Edit Graph” panel’s “Format” tab.

Suggested by Scott Wolla.

View on FRED, series used in this post: DFEDTARL, DFEDTARU, DFF

Comovements in monetary policy

Revealing international correlations with FRED

Reporters and Fed watchers in the U.S. usually think about monetary policy in a domestic framework. But because business conditions, including commodity prices, are correlated internationally, central banks tend to move their policy rates up and down together and their inflation and interest rates tend to be correlated. FRED makes it easy to see these international comovements of macro and policy variables.

The first graph shows comovement in inflation rates from 1970 to the present for four economies: the U.S., Japan, the U.K., and the euro area. Inflation rose in the 1970s as central banks failed to combat the effects of commodity price increases on the general price level and inflation expectations became established.

Before the Financial Crisis of 2007-2009, almost all central banks in the developed world implemented monetary policy mainly by buying and selling short-term bonds to influence short-term interest rates or “policy rates.” The second graph shows the comovement in these policy rates from 1970 to the present for the Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan, and the Bank of England: These central banks first hiked their policy rates in the 1979-1981 period to combat inflation and were then able to reduce those rates in the 1980s after inflation fell.

The second graph also shows that the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, and the Bank of Japan lowered their short-term interest rates to zero during the Financial Crisis. To maintain price stability and continue to stimulate their economies, they turned to “unconventional” monetary policies that included buying long-term bonds to reduce long-term interest rates.

The value of the assets of central banks is one (albeit imperfect) way of measuring the monetary stimulus of unconventional policy. The third graph shows the assets of four central banks using an index for their values in 2008. The index value, rather than the value in each respective currency, allows a rough but easy comparison of the relative monetary stimulus. Central bank asset holdings have all increased greatly over the past decades. The Federal Reserve and the Bank of England had the first large responses in 2008-2009. The Bank of Japan began to accumulate assets in earnest starting in 2013. And the European Central Bank did likewise starting in 2015.

How these graphs were created: First graph: Search for “consumer price index for all urban consumers,” select the seasonally adjusted monthly version of the appropriate series, and click “Add to Graph.” From the “Edit Graph” panel’s “Add Line” tab, add the monthly versions of the three series “Consumer Price Index of All Items in Japan,” “Consumer Price Index of All Items in the United Kingdom,” and “Harmonized Index of Consumer Prices: All Items for Euro Area (19 Countries).” For each of these four lines, change the units to “Percent Change from Year Ago.” Lastly, change the start date to 1970-01-01.
Second graph: Search for “effective federal funds rate,” select the appropriate monthly series, and click “Add to Graph.” From the “Edit Graph” panel’s “Add Line” tab, add the monthly versions of the two series “Immediate Rates: Less than 24 hours: Central Bank Rates for Japan” and “Bank of England Policy Rate in the United Kingdom.” Lastly, change the start date to 1970-01-01.
Third graph: Search for “All Federal Reserve Banks: Total Assets,” select the appropriate series, and click “Add to Graph.” From the “Edit Graph” panel’s “Add Line” tab, add the three series “Bank of Japan: Total Assets for Japan,” “Total Central Bank Assets for United Kingdom,” and “Central Bank Assets for Euro Area (11-19 Countries).” For each of these four lines, change the units to “Index (Scale value to 100 for chosen date)” and select the date 2008-01-01. Lastly, change the start date to 2004-01-01.

Suggested by Chris Neely.

View on FRED, series used in this post: BOERUKM, CP0000EZ19M086NEST, CPIAUCSL, ECBASSETS, FEDFUNDS, GBRCPIALLMINMEI, IRSTCB01JPM156N, JPNASSETS, JPNCPIALLMINMEI, UKASSETS, WALCL


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