Recent Updates
- Slovenia: PPI (Jul)
- Peru: Balance of Payments (Q2) 08?19 EMERGEPR Taiwan: Industrial Production (Jun), New Motor Vehicle Registration (Jul), BOP, External Debt (Q2)
- Poland: IP Weights (Jul)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Index of Leading Indicators Fell Again in July
The Conference Board's Composite Leading Economic Indicators Index fell 0.4% m/m...
U.S. Philly Fed General Activity Index Back to Positive Reading in August
The current general activity diffusion index rose nearly 19 points in August to 6.2...
U.S. Unemployment Claims Slightly Lower
Initial claims for unemployment insurance went down 2,000 in the week ended August 13 to 250,000...
Inflation Rages in EMU and Hovers Globally
Inflation in the European Monetary Union in July finalizes at 8.8% year-over-year...
U.S. Retail Sales Hold Steady in July; Nonauto Sales Rise
Total retail sales remained unchanged during July (10.3% y/y)...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller June 30, 2005
The Federal Open Market Committee increased interest rates for the ninth time since last June. The target rate for federal funds was raised an expected 25 basis points to 3.25% and the discount rate was raised 25 basis points to 4.25%.
The decision was unanimous.
Today's press release from the Fed continued to contain a comment suggesting that rates could be raised again. "The Committee believes that, even after this action, the stance of monetary policy remains accommodative ..."
For emphasis the statement indicated that "with appropriate monetary policy action, the upside and downside risks to the attainment of both sustainable growth and price stability should be kept roughly equal."
Discretion was indicated with the comment "the Committee will respond to changes in economic prospects as needed to fulfill its obligation to maintain price stability."
For the complete text of the Fed's latest press release please click here.
A Search for a Structural Phillips Curve from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York can be found here.