59. How the Fed Changes Interest Rates
A lesson on open market operations and how the federal reserve increases and decreases the money supply in order to move interest rates and what this means for traders of the stock, futures, and foreign exchange markets. In our last lesson we looked at the structure of the Federal Reserve and the components of the FOMC, the portion responsible for implementing Monetary Policy. Now that we have an understanding of this, we can look further into exactly how monetary policy is facilitated and what happens to markets under differing scenarios. Monetary Policy very simply is anything which relates to action by the Federal Reserve to influence the amount of money and credit available in the economy. To understand exactly what this means, one first must understand the concept of fiat monetary systems. Fiat Monetary Systems: The United States, like most major economies, has what is known as a fiat monetary system. A Fiat Monetary system very simply is any system which uses a monetary unit (in this case the US Dollar) which is not convertible to some commodity, in general a precious metal such as gold. Fiat money, is money that is backed by the credit of some entity, normally a government, and the value for which is derived from its relative scarcity and the faith placed in it by the population which uses it. This is important to us as traders because the fact that the Dollar is not convertible to a commodity such as gold gives the Federal Reserve the ability to increase or decrease the money supply as it sees fit, or in other words to enact Monetary Policy. With this in mind the 3 tools available to the Fed for enacting monetary policy are: • Open Market Operations • The Discount Rate • Reserve Requirements The most common tool that the Fed uses, and therefore the one that we will cover, is Open Market Operations. Once we have an understanding of this and how increases or decreases in the supply of money affect demand and prices, the other two less commonly used tools will be more easily understood. Through something which is known as the Open Market Committee, the Fed increases and decreases the supply of money by buying and selling US Government securities. When The Fed wishes to reduce interest rates they will increase the supply of money by buying government securities using money that was not available in circulation before they made their purchase. As with anything, when additional supply is added and everything else remains constant, price normally falls. In this case the price that we are referring to is the cost of borrowing money or interest rates. Conversely, when the fed wishes to increase interest rates they will instruct the open market committee to sell government securities thereby taking the money they earn on the proceeds of those sales out of circulation and reducing the money supply.
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Canales:
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Inversiones & Trading
Agregado: 657 days ago por
PFISPAIN
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58. What Traders Need to Know About The Structure of The Fed
A lesson on the structure of the Federal reserve for traders and investors in the stock, futures, and forex markets. In our last lesson we finalized our discussion on the importance of interest rates and introduced the Federal Reserve. In today's lesson we're going to continue our discussion on the Federal Reserve by looking at the parts of the Fed which are relevant to us as traders so we can begin to understand how this one institution is able to create drastic moves in the markets. The Federal Reserve has many responsibilities which include regulating banking activity, playing a major role in operating the nation's payments system, and maintaining the stability of the financial system. The role that is most important to us as traders and therefore the role in which we will concentrate on in our lessons, is its role in conducting the nation's monetary policy. ***As a side note here the Federal Reserve is also the Central Bank of the United States. I say this here because most countries have something which operates in much the same way as the Fed which is many times referred to in other countries as the Central Bank. While these institutions may be structured differently from the Fed, from a broad perspective many of the things you learn in our lessons on monetary policy will apply to any central bank. While the Fed's objectives are set by law, its day to day activities are not subject to government approval. This is an important point to understand as it means that unlike Fiscal Policy, which must be approved by both Congress and the President, monetary policy can be enacted as the Fed pleases. This gives the Fed much more control over the economy at least in the short term, and is the reason why some people consider the chairman of the Federal Reserve to be more powerful than even the President. There are many interesting details about The Fed and its structure that I encourage everyone to explore, however the primary components which move markets, and are therefore the ones that we will focus on, are: 1. The Board of Governors: Located in Washington DC the Board of Governors is at the top of The Fed's food chain. It is made up of 7 members who are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. To help keep The Fed from being influenced by political factors, 5 of the Fed Governors are appointed to staggered 14 Year terms. The Chairman and the Vice Chairman are appointed to 4 year terms and can be reappointed should the President wish to have them. 2. The Regional Federal Reserve Banks: This is a network which includes the 12 regional Federal Reserve Banks, and 25 Branches. As most of you already know, different areas of the United States are comprised of different industries. As an example the New York area economy is influenced heavily by what is going on in financial services, while the San Francisco area economy is influenced heavily by what is happening in the technology sector. As this is the case, each of the regional banks are strategically located throughout the country so that the can stay abreast of current economic conditions in each area.
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howto
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trading
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economy
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fed
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business
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forex
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futures
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Canales:
Educación
Inversiones & Trading
Agregado: 657 days ago por
PFISPAIN
Tiempo: 01:00 |
Vistas: 188 |
Comentarios: 0
Not yet rated