Recent Updates
- Indonesia: Foreign Reserves (Apr)
- Vietnam: Retail Sales, CPI, International Trade (May)
- Philippines: Producer Price Index (Apr)
- Japan: Labor Force Survey (Apr), Tokyo CPI (May), IP (Apr-Prelim)
- Korea: IP, Construction Orders & Value (Apr), Average Monthly
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
U.S. Pending Home Sales Plunge to Record Low
Pending home sales fell 21.8% in April...
U.S. GDP Decline in Q1'20 is Deepened; Corporate Profits Plunge
Revised GDP figures continue to show sharp falloff in activity...
Kansas City Fed Factory Remains Negative, but Deterioration Moderates
Midwest economic activity continues to decline...
State & Pandemic Assistance Initial Claims Total 46.7 Million in Last Ten Weeks
Initial jobless claims decreased to a still extremely-elevated 2.123 million in the week ending May 23...
Italian Confidence Erodes
Italy's consumer and business indexes plunge in May...
by Tom Moeller November 1, 2005
The Federal Open Market Committee's unanimous decision to increase the target rate for federal funds 25 basis points to 4.00% was widely expected by analysts. The discount rate also was raised 25 basis points to 5.00%. This latest increase was the twelfth since June of 2004.
Today's press release from the Fed focused on the effects of higher energy prices. "Elevated energy prices and hurricane-related disruptions in economic activity have temporarily depressed output and employment."
The FOMC statement further indicated, as it did in September, that "The cumulative rise in energy and other costs have the potential to add to inflation pressures ..."
For the complete text of the Fed's latest press release please click here.
Implementing Monetary Policy, a March 2005 speech by then Fed Governor Ben S. Bernanke is available here.
