Originally published Sunday, January 11, 2009 at 12:00 AM
Comments (0)
E-mail article
Print view
Fed minutes
Clues about where Federal Reserve officials see the economy heading — or how they can better battle the worst financial crisis since the 1930s — can be uncovered in documents, or minutes, released about three weeks after their closed-door monetary-policy meetings, held eight times a year.
Clues about where Federal Reserve officials see the economy heading — or how they can better battle the worst financial crisis since the 1930s — can be uncovered in documents, or minutes, released about three weeks after their closed-door monetary-policy meetings, held eight times a year.
The Fed released the minutes Tuesday from its historic Dec. 15-16 meeting. That's when the central bank took the unprecedented step of slashing the target on a key interest rate to an all-time low of between zero and 0.25 percent. It also vowed to use unconventional tools to jolt life back into the U.S. economy. The rate change, the first of its kind in the Fed's 95-year history, underscored just how far Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues are willing to go to help the crippled economy, which has been stuck in a recession since December 2007.
What's the point of providing the minutes from this and other Fed meetings?
If investors, businesses and consumers have a better grasp of what the Fed is thinking about interest rates and the economy, they may be inclined to respond the way the central bank wants them to. And that can help the Fed do its job.
The minutes provide a chronological narrative of a given meeting. Information on economic conditions — such as employment, consumer spending, industrial production, home building and the trade deficit — is often discussed in detail. So are inflation gauges, such as consumer prices. Overviews of various credit and financial barometers — such as rates on investments in U.S. government debt, or certain closely watched bank-to-bank lending rates — also are provided.
Summaries of discussions among Bernanke and his colleagues about economic and market conditions — how they see the situation unfolding, where they see risks growing or receding — also are contained in the documents.
Sometimes stronger signals are offered about what the Fed's next move on interest rates will be or what new tools could be created to combat the credit and financial crisis. Such clues can be helpful because Fed officials for the most part have a reputation for being tightlipped about potential policy moves.
The minutes released Tuesday show that Fed officials feared the economy will be stuck in a painful rut for some time despite their rate reduction. In fact, Fed officials thought the economy would contract sharply in the final three months of last year and in early 2009.
— Jeannine Aversa, The Associated Press
Copyright © 2009 The Seattle Times Company
More Business & Technology headlines...
E-mail article
Print view Share:
Digg
Newsvine
![]()
An 802.11n upgrade could make a big difference
Retailers opening doors on Thanksgiving Day
Google makes concessions on digital book deal
Critics want to block Comcast-NBC deal
Google submits revised book settlement

Opening day at Crystal Mountain
Skiers crowded the slopes at Crystal Mountain for one of the resort's earliest openings.
nwjobs

Post a comment

Michelle Goodman blogs about work/life balance.
How to tell your office you're gravely ill
Post a comment
nwautos

Choosing a new sedan? Weigh the impact of your choice on your wallet and on the planet.
Post a comment
- Homeless man, 46, arrested in Greenwood arsons
- KVI talk radio host off the air as of Thursday
- Steve Kelley | ESPN's Bill Simmons gets us: He hates Clay Bennett, too
- Police investigate videotaped arrest
- Seattle U. Men's Hoops | Big recruit goes from Huskies to Redhawks
- Mariners sign Jack Wilson to 2-year contract
- Razor found in muffin an accident, 'mortified' baker says
- Suspect's family shaken by slaying of police officer
- Mountlake Terrace woman reports razor in muffin
- Man says he will protest city's gun ban by carrying gun into community center
- Police investigate videotaped arrest
634 - Seattle man to pack a pistol into community center to protest mayor's ban
319 - OSU game thread
301 - Light rail to airport to begin Dec. 19
178 - KVI talk radio host off the air as of Thursday
143 - Mariners sign Jack Wilson to 2-year contract
141 - NYC trial for 9/11 suspects poses risks
110 - Wright State game thread
97 - Rang says Locker not ready for NFL
85 - Band of advocates, activists now McGinn's likely insiders
84
- Light rail to airport to begin Dec. 19
- Homeless man, 46, arrested in Greenwood arsons
- Ivar's undersea billboards a hoax devised as marketing ploy
- Light rail to airport to begin Dec. 19
- Steve Kelley | ESPN's Bill Simmons gets us: He hates Clay Bennett, too
- An 802.11n upgrade could make a big difference
- KVI talk radio host off the air as of Thursday
- Washington in race for federal education funds
- Police investigate videotaped arrest
- Goodwill's Glitter Sale is Nov. 14-15





