2 min readFOMC Meeting The Federal Reserve left interest rates unchanged at yesterday’s meeting on monetary policy, and in the statement accompanying the meeting, the Fed commented that “Economic activity and employment have picked up in recent months but remain well below their levels at the beginning of the year.” And while “Overall financial conditions have improved…
2 min readFOMC Meeting The Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee met last week and Chair Jerome Powell spelled out a bleak outlook for the U.S. economy. The Fed’s year-end median expectation for the unemployment rate is 9.3%, with 2020 GDP growth projected at negative 6.50% and core PCE inflation at 1.0%. At the press conference following the…
2 min readFOMC Meeting The Federal Reserve has taken extraordinary steps over the past six weeks to shield the economy from the massive fallout of the virus pandemic, including emergency interest rate cuts, massive bond purchases and the opening of multiple lending facilities to provide liquidity and backstops to the fixed income markets. Following their regularly scheduled…
2 min readFOMC Holds Rates Steady The Federal Reserve met last week to review monetary policy for the first time this year and to no one’s surprise, the FOMC left the overnight lending rate unchanged at the 1.50% to 1.75% range. The Fed remains in a wait-and-see mode where interest rates are concerned, saying it “judges that…
2 min readFinal FOMC Meeting of 2019 The Federal Reserve met on December 11th and, as expected, left rates unchanged at the 1.50% to 1.75% target range. The FOMC signaled that it has little appetite for adjustments to monetary policy in the near term, saying “the current stance … is appropriate to support sustained expansion of economic…
2 min readIn a move that was widely expected, the Federal Reserve cut rates last Wednesday by 25 basis points to the 1.50% to 1.75% range. Seven officials voted for the cut, and two (Esther George and Eric Rosengren) dissented again in favor of no change in monetary policy. Because the rate reduction had been anticipated, the…
3 min readToday, the Federal Open Market Committee announced a 25 basis point cut in the overnight fed funds rate to a range from 1.75% to 2.00%, the second such action this year. In a normal week, building anticipation for the Fed’s policy decision and press conference would typically dominate the markets, but turmoil in the repo…
5 min readFollowing the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, the rapidly deteriorating economic environment in the U.S. and abroad caused most treasurers to reevaluate their cash investment strategies, with a specific focus on restricting investment in certain asset types. Some companies implemented these restrictions by changing their investment policies, while others simply gave instructions to their…
2 min readIntroduction Following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008, the rapidly deteriorating economic environment in the U.S. and abroad caused most treasurers to reevaluate their cash investment strategies, with a specific focus on restricting investments in certain asset types. Some companies implemented these restrictions by changing their investment guidelines, while others simply gave instructions to…