scholarly journals The Effect of FOMC Votes on Financial Markets

2019 ◽  
Vol 101 (5) ◽  
pp. 921-932
Author(s):  
Carlos Madeira ◽  
João Madeira

This paper shows that since votes of members of the Federal Open Market Committee have been included in press statements, stock prices increase after the announcement when votes are unanimous but fall when dissent (which typically is due to preference for higher interest rates) occurs. This pattern started prior to the 2007–2008 financial crisis. The differences in stock market reaction between unanimity and dissent remain, even controlling for the stance of monetary policy and consecutive dissent. Statement semantics also do not seem to explain the documented effect. We find no differences between unanimity and dissent with respect to impact on market risk and Treasury securities.

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 14 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shigeki Ono

This paper investigates the spillovers of US conventional and unconventional monetary policies to Russian financial markets using VAR-X models. Impulse responses to an exogenous Federal Funds rate shock are assessed for all the endogenous variables. The empirical results show that both conventional and unconventional tightening monetary policy shocks decrease stock prices whereas an easing monetary policy shock does not increase stock prices. Moreover, the results suggest that an unconventional tightening monetary policy shock increases Russian interest rates and decreases oil prices, implying reduced liquidity in international financial markets.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 60-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaen Corbet ◽  
Grace McHugh ◽  
Andrew Meegan

The emergence of Bitcoin in 2009 has received considerable attention surrounding the validity of cryptocurrencies as a viable and, in some jurisdictions, a legal currency alternative. Despite widespread concern that these cryptocurrencies are fostering the environment within which a substantial bubble can occur, it is important to analyze whether these new assets are behaving similarly to major international currencies. This paper investigates the effects of international monetary policy changes on bitcoin returns using a GARCH (1.1) estimation model. The results indicate that monetary policy decisions based on interest rates taken by the Federal Open Market Committee in the United States significantly impact upon bitcoin returns. After controlling for international effects, we find significant evidence of volatility effects driven by United States, European Union, United Kingdom and Japanese quantitative easing announcements. These results show that, despite its nature and ideals, bitcoin seems to be subject to the same economic factors as traditional fiat currencies, and is not entirely unaffected by government policies. This result has implications for investors using bitcoin as a hedging or diversification tool. In addition, we contribute to the existing debate regarding the classification of bitcoin as an asset class, by illustrating that bitcoin volatility exhibits various reactions that bear resemblance to both currency pairs and store-of-value assets.


2020 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Nicole Baerg

This chapter introduces central bankers as “wordsmiths,” skilled users of words, who work together to construct and edit a monetary policy statement with an intention to drive the economy by shaping the public’s beliefs about the future. The chapter starts off showing that central bankers can be both relatively vague and relatively precise with the language that they use. Baerg highlights previous explanations on the benefits of delegating monetary policy to a monetary policy committee rather than to a single individual. Known benefits include better information aggregation and problem-solving. The author introduces the argument that monetary policy committees that have diverse policy preferences are more likely to be precise and illustrates, using examples from Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) transcript data, how policy makers bargain over the policy statement in ways similar to how they negotiate changes in interest rates. The chapter concludes with a brief overview of the structure of the manuscript.


Author(s):  
Pedro Amaral

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) has maintained an accommodative monetary policy ever since the 2007 recession, and some financial market participants are concerned that long-term interest rates may increase more than should be expected when the Committee starts to tighten. But a look at five historical episodes of monetary policy tightening suggests that such an outcome is more likely when markets are surprised by policy actions or economic developments. Given the Fed's new policy tools, especially its evolution toward more transparent communications, the odds of a surprise are far less likely now.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (9) ◽  
pp. 141-172
Author(s):  
Ioannis N. Kallianiotis

Every six weeks or so (9 times during the year), the financial world watches as the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decides on a target interest rate in the federal funds market for the next period. But what happens next? How do policymakers make sure that interest rates in the fed funds market trade within the target range? What will be the effect of the new target rate on the Wall Street and the Main Street? How efficient is so far the monetary policy after the latest global financial crisis? Is the target rate the correct one? The framework that the FOMC uses to implement monetary policy has changed over the last decade and continues to evolve today. Before the 2008 financial crisis, policymakers used one set of instruments to achieve the target rate. However, several policy interventions introduced soon after the crisis drastically altered the landscape of the federal funds market. This new and uncertain environment, with enormous reserves, necessitated a new set of instruments for monetary policy implementation. Lately, after December 2015, as the FOMC began to unwind the effects of these policy interventions, some questions arise: What rules will be followed by the Fed? What happens next as the federal funds market converges to a “new normal”? How effective will be the new policy? Can the Fed prevent a new crisis? The federal funds rate is very low and affects negatively the financial markets (bubbles are growing), the real rates of interest, and the deposit rates, which means the true economic welfare is falling and a new global recession is in preparation, if the latest easy money policy will continue.


2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 177-198 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jane E. Ihrig ◽  
Ellen E. Meade ◽  
Gretchen C. Weinbach

For many years prior to the global financial crisis, the Federal Open Market Committee set a target for the federal funds rate and achieved that target through small purchases and sales of securities in the open market. In the aftermath of the financial crisis, with a superabundant level of reserve balances in the banking system having been created as a result of the Federal Reserve's large-scale asset purchase programs, this approach to implementing monetary policy will no longer work. This paper provides a primer on the Fed's implementation of monetary policy. We use the standard textbook model to illustrate why the approach used by the Federal Reserve before the financial crisis to keep the federal funds rate near the Federal Open Market Committee's target will not work in current circumstances, and explain the approach that the Committee intends to use instead when it decides to begin raising short-term interest rates.


2014 ◽  
pp. 107-121 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Andryushin

The paper analyzes monetary policy of the Bank of Russia from 2008 to 2014. It presents the dynamics of macroeconomic indicators testifying to inability of the Bank of Russia to transit to inflation targeting regime. It is shown that the presence of short-term interest rates in the top borders of the percentage corridor does not allow to consider the key rate as a basic tool of monetary policy. The article justifies that stability of domestic prices is impossible with-out exchange rate stability. It is proved that to decrease excessive volatility on national consumer and financial markets it is reasonable to apply a policy of managing financial account, actively using for this purpose direct and indirect control tools for the cross-border flows of the private and public capital.


Author(s):  
Peter Dietsch

Monetary policy, and the response it elicits from financial markets, raises normative questions. This chapter, building on an introductory section on the objectives and instruments of monetary policy, analyzes two such questions. First, it assesses the impact of monetary policy on inequality and argues that the unconventional policies adopted in the wake of the financial crisis exacerbate inequalities in income and wealth. Depending on the theory of justice one holds, this impact is problematic. Should monetary policy be sensitive to inequalities and, if so, how? Second, the chapter argues that the leverage that financial markets have today over the monetary policy agenda undermines democratic legitimacy.


Author(s):  
Yilmaz Akyüz

The preceding chapters have examined the deepened integration of emerging and developing economies (EDEs) into the international financial system in the new millennium and their changing vulnerabilities to external financial shocks. They have discussed the role that policies in advanced economies played in this process, including those that culminated in the global financial crisis and the unconventional monetary policy of zero-bound interest rates and quantitative easing adopted in response to the crisis, as well as policies in EDEs themselves....


2014 ◽  
Vol 04 (04) ◽  
pp. 1450014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reint Gropp ◽  
Christoffer Kok ◽  
Jung-Duk Lichtenberger

This paper investigates the effect of within banking sector competition and competition from financial markets on the dynamics of the transmission from monetary policy rates to retail bank interest rates in the euro area. We use a new dataset that permits analysis for disaggregated bank products. Using a difference-in-difference approach, we test whether development of financial markets and financial innovation speed up the pass through. We find that more developed markets for equity and corporate bonds result in a faster pass-through for those retail bank products directly competing with these markets. More developed markets for securitized assets and for interest rate derivatives also speed up the transmission. Further, we find relatively strong effects of competition within the banking sector across two different measures of competition. Overall, the evidence supports the idea that developed financial markets and competitive banking systems increase the effectiveness of monetary policy.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document