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Economy in Brief
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The Mortgage Bankers Association reported that mortgage applications edged up 0.7% w/w...
Globally Money Supply Slows or Contracts in Real Terms
Money supply trends show that slowing is widespread across the major monetary center countries...
U.S. Consumer Confidence Deteriorates Further in June
The Conference Board's Consumer Confidence Index weakened 4.4% (-23.4% y/y) in June...
U.S. FHFA House Prices Continued to Rise in April
The FHFA House Price Index increased 1.6% during April...
U.S. Advance Trade Deficit Narrowed Slightly in May
The advance estimate of the U.S. international trade deficit in goods narrowed to $104.3 billion in May...
Viewpoints
Commentaries are the opinions of the author and do not reflect the views of Haver Analytics.
by Tom Moeller October 30, 2019
The Federal Reserve lowered the target for the Fed Funds rate by 25 basis points to a range of 1.50% to 1.75% at today's FOMC meeting. It was the third cut this year from a top range of 2.25% to 2.50%. The move reduced the rate to its lowest level since June of last year. The action was expected in the Action Economics Forecast Survey, which does not expect further action this year.
In the statement which accompanied today's move, there was an indication that future action would require unforeseen developments. "The committee will continue to monitor the implications of incoming information for the economic outlook as it assesses the appropriate path" of future action.
Other comments were little changed from those which accompanied earlier meetings, including that consumer spending remained strong and that business investment and exports were weak. Price inflation was expected to remain near two percent. Financial and international developments will also play a role in determining future action, according to FOMC minutes.
The press release for today's meeting can be found here.
Eight members of the FOMC voted to lower the Fed funds rate target while two voted for no change.
Current | Last | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Federal Funds Rate Target | 1.50%-1.75% | 1.75%-2.00% | 1.82% | 1.00% | 0.40% | 0.13 |