United States Monetary Policy

What is Monetary Policy? | Instruments of Monetary Policy
Monetary Policy Indicators | Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)
FOMC Minutes | FOMC Dates | Monetary Policy Objectives
Minneapolis Fed on Monetary Policy

Monetary Policy

Monetary policy is a central bank's actions to influence the availability and cost of money and credit, as a means of helping to promote national economic goals.

• Monetary Policy, via Board of Governors
  Monetary policy is made by the Federal Open Market Committee, which consists of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System and the Reserve Bank presidents.
• Monetary Policy and the Economy, via Board of Governors
• U.S. Monetary Policy Forum, remarks by Gary H. Stern,
  March 9, 2007
• Monetary Aggregates and Monetary Policy at the Federal Reserve: A Historical Perspective, Chairman Ben Bernanke, November 10, 2006
• The Effects of Globalization on Inflation and Their Implications for Monetary Policy, Governor Donald L. Kohn, June 16, 2006
• U.S. Monetary Policy: An Introduction, via FRB San Francisco
• The Strategy of Monetary Policy,
  remarks by Governor Laurence H. Meyer, March 16, 1998
• Formulating a Consistent Approach to Monetary Policy,
  1995 Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis Annual Report essay

Instruments of Monetary Policy

Open Market Operations

• Fedpoint: Open Market Operations, via FRB New York
• Understanding Open Market Operations, via FRB New York
• Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC)
• Shadow Open Market Committee (The Region, June 1993)

Discount Window

When the Federal Reserve System was established in 1913, lending reserve funds through the discount window was intended as the principal instrument of central banking operations. Although the window was long ago superseded by open market operations as the most important tool of monetary policy, it still has a complementary role in the day-to-day implementation of policy.

• Discount Rate — current and historical
• Fedpoint: The Discount Window, via FRB New York

Reserve Requirements

• Current Reserve Requirements of Depository Institutions
• Fedpoint: Reserve Requirements, via FRB New York

Monetary Policy Indicators

Monetary and Credit Aggregates

• M1
  Measure of the U.S. money stock that consists of currency held by the public, travelers checks, demand deposits and other checkable deposits including NOW (negotiable order of withdrawal) and ATS (automatic transfer service) account balances and share draft account balances at credit unions.
  M1 Money Stock via FRB St. Louis
  

• M2
  M1 plus savings accounts and small denomination time deposits, plus shares in money market mutual funds (other than those restricted to institutional investors), plus overnight Eurodollars and repurchase agreements.
  M2 Money Stock via FRB St. Louis
  
  
• M3
  M2 plus large-denomination time deposits at all depository institutions, large denomination term repurchase agreements, and shares in money market mutual funds restricted to institutional investors.
  M3 Money Stock via FRB St. Louis (discontinued series)

Short- and Long-term Interest Rates

• Short-term Interest Rates Chart
• Selected Interest Rates   (Statistical Release H.15),
  via the Board of Governors
• Fedpoint: Federal Funds, via FRB New York

Foreign Exchange Rates

• Trade Weighted Value of the Dollar Chart
• Foreign Exchange Rates
  (Statistical Release H.10), via the Board of Governors
• Foreign Exchange 12 Noon Rates, via FRB New York
• Currency Devaluation and Revaluation, via FRB New York
• Foreign Exchange Volatility, via FRB New York

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