Recent Updates
- ** New Zealand Jobs Online has changed its reported frequency from monthly to quarterly and rebased from August 2010=100 to Q4 2010=100. We are currently working on processing this data.**
- New Zealand: ANZ-Roy Morgan Consumer Confidence (Apr)
- Bangladesh: BOP (Jan); Korea: Economic Sentiment and Business Survey Index (Apr); Singapore: Motor Vehicle Registration (Mar), Corporate Insolvency Statistics (Feb); Mongolia: Foreign Trade (2017); Pakistan: Seasonally Adjusted Balance of Payments (Mar)
- more updates...
Economy in Brief
Kansas City Federal Reserve Factory Index Hits Record High
The Kansas City Fed reported that its index of regional manufacturing sector business activity surged to a record 26...
U.S. Initial Unemployment Insurance Claims Decline Sharply
Initial claims for unemployment insurance fell sharply to 209,000 (-17.1% y/y)...
German Confidence Flattens and Falters
German confidence for May is mooted at a 97.8% queue percentile standing...
U.S. Mortgage Loan Applications Are Little Changed; Rates Remain High
The MBA total Mortgage Applications Volume Index eased 0.2% last week (-1.9% y/y)...
Japan Shows Very Moderate Growth As Trade War Clouds Gather
Japan’s sector indexes showed a solid gain in February...
by Tom Moeller April 25, 2012
As expected, the Federal Open Market Committee today left the Federal
funds rate in a "range from 0 to 1/4 percent." The Fed funds
rate has remained unchanged since late-2008 at its lowest level ever. The
discount rate also was left unchanged at 0.75%. The Fed indicated that the
economy may warrant an exceptionally low Fed funds rate at least through
late 2014.
The assessment of the economy was unchanged and indicated that there's been moderate improvement. The Fed noted that "labor market conditions have improved" and "household spending and business fixed investment have continued to advance." However, "the housing sector remains depressed."
The Fed stated that "inflation has picked up somewhat, mainly reflecting higher prices of crude oil and gasoline. However, longer-term inflation expectations have remained stable."
"The Committee also decided to continue its program to extend the average maturity of its holdings of securities as announced in September."
The latest press release from the Federal Reserve can be found here and its economic projections are available here.
The Haver databases USECON, WEEKLY and DAILY contain the figures from the Federal Reserve Board.
Current | Last | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Federal Funds Rate, % (Target) | 0.00-0.25 | 0.00-0.25 | 0.17 | 0.16 | 1.93 |
Discount Rate, % | 0.75 | 0.75 | 0.72 | 0.50 | 2.39 |