Federal Reserve updates including rates, news and forecasts

The statement from this week's meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) indicated that the Fed will stay the course in its program of using low interest rates to stimulate the economy. The FOMC statement included a mild rebuke of fiscal policy, but no real surprises or new initiatives.

But while there was nothing unexpected in what the Fed had to say, there are some unanswered questions pertaining to what the latest statement didn't say.

What the FOMC had to say

The FOMC statement noted that the economy was expanding at a moderate pace, and expressed the view that this would continue as long as the Fed maintained its accommodative policies. Therefore, the Fed said those policies would continue until either unemployment reached 6.5 percent, or inflation threatened to significantly exceed the Fed's 2 percent target. The policies in question include keeping short-term interest rates near zero, and making monthly purchases of $40 billion in mortgage-backed securities and $45 billion in long-term Treasuries.

While mostly noting positive developments in the recent economy, the FOMC statement did describe fiscal policy as "restraining economic growth." This presumably is a reference to sequestration, which has forced a series of federal budget cuts.

Unanswered questions

While that reference to fiscal policy was one of the few discouraging notes in the FOMC statement, there are some serious, unanswered questions that economists and investors are increasingly asking about the Fed's low-interest-rate policy. Here are some examples:

1. Are low interest rates creating asset bubbles? Despite mediocre economic news, stock prices recently reached a new high as investors look for alternatives to ultra-low Treasury and savings account interest rates. The danger is that the Fed's low interest rate policy may be creating a bubble in stock prices, as well as in the prices of the mortgage-backed and Treasury securities it is buying at a combined rate of more than $1 trillion a year.
2. Has the real estate market become dependent on ultra-low mortgage rates? Real estate hasn't rallied enough yet to be described as a price bubble, but with mortgage rates having been so low for so long, it raises the question of whether housing prices could survive a return of rates to more normal levels.
3. Has low interest hurt personal savings rates? Low interest rates are designed to be an incentive to borrow and spend, which means they are a disincentive to save. This could be putting the financial future of many Americans on even shakier ground.
4. Is the policy working? Under normal circumstances, low interest rates should stimulate growth, but it remains to be seen whether this will work when borrowers are already overextended. Is the policy working? Perhaps you can't definitively answer "no," but you can answer "not yet."

You can credit the Fed with being consistent in its monetary policy approach. But the longer it takes for that approach to get the economy up to speed, the more troubling these unanswered questions will become.

About the Federal Reserve

The Federal Reserve serves as the central bank of the United States. It was founded in 1913 by Congress for the purpose of strengthening the nation’s financial and monetary stability. Today, the Fed serves several duties in the nation’s economy.

These roles include regulating financial institutions, seeking to foster prosperity in the financial market, providing services to financial institutions, and influencing credit and monetary conditions for the purpose of a stable economy.

The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meets several times each year and steers many key parts of Federal Reserve policy, including guiding the target range of the federal funds rate. The committee consists of 12 members.

Federal Reserve policy options

Options the Federal Reserve has for manipulating the economy include:

• Altering the federal funds rate target
• Altering the discount rate and its spread from the federal funds rate
• Making open-market purchases of mortgages securities and Treasury bonds
• Revising the language in the Fed's official statement to extend the period of time that interest rates are anticipated to be low
• Increasing the money supply

Federal Reserve Links

The Federal Reserve Board

Members of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors

Speeches and Testimony by Federal Reserve Board Members

Statistics: Releases and Historical Data

Federal Reserve Bank Chicago

Federal Reserve Bank New York

Historical interest rate changes

Previous Federal Reserve Updates

Is the Fed hinting at its exit strategy?

Fed meeting overshadowed by GDP disappointment

Fed ignores fiscal cliff, conducts business as usual

Fed plays the waiting game

More of the same medicine from the Fed

Fed meeting brings no miracle cure from Dr. Bernanke

The Fed's latest bet: I'll have another

Federal Reserve update: April 2012

Federal Reserve update: March 2012

Federal Reserve update: January 2012

Federal Reserve update: December 2011 

Federal Reserve update: November 2011

Federal Reserve Update: September 2011

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