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- China: GDP, Household Income and Expenditure (Q2), Fixed Asset Investment, Private Fixed Asset Investment, Service Sector, IP, Unemployment Rate (Jun); India: Sources of Money Stock (Jun);
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Economy in Brief
French Retail Sales Rebound In June But Do Not Convince
French retail sales rebounded in June after falling for two consecutive months...
U.S. CPI Increase Moderates; Core Price Gain Steadies
Inflationary pressures moderated last month...
U.S. Government Budget Deficit Widens This Year
The U.S. Treasury Department reported that during the first nine months of fiscal year 2018, the federal government budget deficit totaled $607.1 billion...
U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Fall
Initial claims for unemployment insurance dropped to 214,000 during the week ended July 7...
EMU IP Makes Strong May Gain
EMU industrial output expands in all sectors in May...
by Tom Moeller March 22, 2005
The Federal Open Market Committee raised the target rate for federal funds an expected 25 basis points to 2.75%. The discount rate also was raised 25 basis points to 3.75%.
The decision to raise rates the seventh time since last June was unanimous.
Today's press release from the Fed continued to contain a comment suggesting that rates could be raised again. "With underlying inflation expected to be contained, the Committee believes that policy accommodation can be removed at a pace that is likely to be measured."
With regard to prices the press release indicated "Though longer-term inflation expectations remain well contained, pressures on inflation have picked up in recent months and pricing power is more evident. The rise in energy prices, however, has not notably fed through to core consumer prices."
For the complete text of the Fed's latest press release please click here.
Paul Samuelson and Monetary Analysis from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis can be found here.
