View original document

The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.

Presentation Materials (PDF)
Pages 153 to 167 of the Transcript

Appendix 1: Materials used by Mr. Kos
Page 1
Top and middle panels
Title: Current 3-Month Deposit Rates and Rates Implied by Traded Forward Rate Agreements
Series: US Dollar, Euro, and Japanese Yen Libor Fixing, 3M Forward, 6M Forward, and 9M
Forward Rates
Horizon: September 3, 2005 through March 24, 2006
Description: Comparison of the listed rates between US Dollar, Euro, and Japanese Yen, all of
which are on the rise. Japanese rates are considerably lower and thus are shown in the middle panel
with a different scale.
Bottom panel
Title: Spread between 10- and 2-Year Treasury Notes
Series: Spread between 10- and 2-Year Treasury Notes
Horizon: June 1, 2004 through March 24, 2006
Description: Spread continually decreases toward zero and eventually goes below zero representing
an inverted yield curve.

Page 2
Top-left panel
Title: BoJ Current Account Balances 10-Day Moving Average
Series: BoJ Current Account Balances 10-Day Moving Average
Horizon: January 1, 2001 through March 24, 2006
Description: Increases sharply until early 2004 where it is still volatile but stays within the 30-35
trillion range. The balance on 3/24/06 is 30.115 trillion yen.
Top-right panel
Title: Japan Core CPI ex Fresh Food, YoY
Series: Japan Core CPI ex Fresh Food, YoY
Horizon: January 2001 through February 2006

Description: Japan Core CPI is below zero from 2001 to 2003, hovering around zero from 2003 to
2005, and then starts increasing sharply starting in early 2005.
Middle-left panel
Title: Japanese Bank Lending, YoY Growth
Series: Japanese Bank Lending, YoY Growth
Horizon: January 2001 through February 2006
Description: Bank lending declined for most of the sample but growth rates began to rise in 2004
and continued until going above zero in 2006.
Middle-right panel
Title: Japanese Equity Indices
Series: Topix Index and Topix Bank Index (Index of daily changes where January 4, 2001=100)
Horizon: January 4, 2001 through March 24, 2006
Description: Comparison between the two Indexes' performance. The Topix Bank Index is below the
Topix Index the entire chart until late 2005 when it rises sharply in 2006 and matches the Topix
Index performance.
Bottom panel
Title: 2- and 5-Year Japanese Government Note Yields
Series: 2- and 5-Year Japanese Government Note Yields
Horizon: January 4, 2001 through March 24, 2006
Description: The 5-Year Yield is consistently higher than the 2-Year Yield. Both yields rise sharply
in 2006.

Page 3
Top panel
Title: Select European Equity Indices
Series: European Indices including: DAX, FTSE, CAC and Dow Jones Euro Stoxx. (Index of daily
changes where January 3, 2005=100)
Horizon: January 3, 2005 through March 24, 2006
Description: All indices generally rise over the period. Among the indices listed, Dow Jones Euro
Stoxx performed the best and FTSE 100 the worst.
Middle-left panel
Title: 10-Year German Bund
Series: 10-Year German Bund Yield
Horizon: January 3, 2005 through March 24, 2006
Description: The Yield was decreasing but finished in March close to the same 3.62% level it began
in January 2005.
Middle-right panel
Title: German IFO Survey of Business Expectations
Series: German IFO Survey of Business Expectations (Index of daily changes where February 24,

2004=100)
Horizon: January 2005 through March 2006
Description: Index is rising steadily since mid-2005.
Bottom panel
Title: Select Foreign Currency Performance Against the Dollar
Series: Percentage change in value of U.S. dollar versus the Japanese Yen, Euro, Polish Zloty,
Mexican Peso, Australian Dollar, New Zealand Dollar, and Iceland Krona
Horizon: January 31, 2006 through March 24, 2006
Description: Change in select foreign exchange versus the dollar show the dollar depreciated by up
to almost 15 percent over the period versus high-yielding currencies, such as the New Zealand Dollar
and Icelandic Kroner. However, depreciation against major currencies was much smaller.

Page 4
Top panel
Title: Emerging Market and High Yield Debt Spreads
Series: JP Morgan EMBI+ Index and Merrill Lynch High Yield Corporate Debt Index (daily)
Horizon: October 1, 2002 through March 20, 2006
Description: Emerging market debt has outperformed, widening the spread between the EMBI+ and
High Yield indices.
Source: JP Morgan and Merrill Lynch

Middle panel
Title: US High-Yield Corporate Issuance
Series: SDC's US High-Yield Corporate Issuance. Three groupings are listed per year including: BB,
B+ and B, and B- and below
Horizon: 1988 through 2006
Description: In 2006, levels are on pace to match overall 2005 levels. Also, to date in 2006, the
grouping of B+ and B rated Corporates make up the majority stake of issuance.
Source: SDC

Bottom panel
Title: Trailing 12-Month High Yield Default Rate
Series: Moody's 12-Month High Yield Default Rate
Horizon: January 1988 through February 2006
Description: 12-Month High Yield Default Rate has been declining since 2002, and is now below
the 2% level in 2006. Grey areas represent NBER recession periods of 1990:Q3-1991:Q1 and
2001:Q1-2001:Q4.
Source: Moody's

Page 5

Top panel
Title: Fed Funds Rate Behavior Over Recent Maintenance Periods
Series: Effective Rate, Target Rate, and Intervention Rates
Horizon: February 2006 through March 29, 2006
Description: Effective and Intervention Rates gradually increased in late March in anticipation of an
increase of 25 bps on March 28
Bottom panel
Title: Reserve Balances Held by the Banking System and One Money Center Bank
Series: Required reserve balances
Horizon: February 2006 through March 29, 2006, however data beyond 3/26/06 are projections
Description: One Money Center Bank had a $4.1B "as of" adjustment, which caused the Fed Funds
Rate in the previous panel at the top of the page to firm more quickly during the last 2 weeks of
March 2006.
Required Operating Balances are equal to: Required Reserves minus Applied Vault Cash plus Required Clearing Balances
minus "As of" Adjustments

Appendix 2: Materials used by Mr. Reinhart
Material for FOMC Briefing on Monetary Policy Alternatives
Vincent R. Reinhart
March 28, 2006
Class I FOMC - Restricted Controlled FR

Exhibit 1
The Market Outlook for Policy
Top-left panel
Expected Federal Funds Rates
A line chart showing the expected path of the federal funds rate from March 2006 to the end of 2007,
as implied by federal funds and Eurodollar futures prices on January 30 and March 27, 2006. The
line for January 30 starts at 4½ percent, rises to about 4¾ percent by July, and then falls gradually
back to about 4½ percent by the end of 2007. The line for March 27 starts a little higher than the
January line, rises to about 5 percent by September, then falls gradually back to just below 4¾
percent by the end of 2007.
Top-right panel
Desk Survey
Primary dealers are virtually certain of a 25 bps tightening at this meeting
They anticipate little change in the statement
They expect the retention of the assessment that the risks are tilted to the upside
Middle-left panel
Probability Density for Target Funds Rate after June 2006 FOMC Meeting

A bar chart showing the probability density for the target federal funds rate after the June 2006
FOMC meeting based on options on federal funds futures as of March 27, 2006. The probability of a
funds rate of 4.5 percent is less than 10 percent. The probability of a 4.75 percent funds rate is about
25 percent. The probability of a 5.0 percent funds rate is about 50 percent. The probability of a 5.25
percent funds rate is a bit under 20 percent.
Middle-right panel
Federal Funds Rate
Bottom panels
Evolution of the Staff Forecast
Bottom-left panel
Change in Real GDP

A line chart shows the evolution of the staff forecasts for GDP growth in 2005, 2006, and 2007 since
the January 2004 Greenbook. The forecast for GDP growth in 2005 (specifically, growth from the
fourth quarter of 2004 to the fourth quarter of 2005) starts at 4 percent and gradually edges down to
about 3¼ percent by early 2006 (at which point the line ends). The forecast for GDP growth in 2006
starts in mid-2004 at 4 percent, falls nearly to 3 percent in the summer of 2005, and then rises to
about 3¾ percent in the current Greenbook. The forecast for GDP growth in 2007 starts in mid-2005
a bit below 3 percent and edges up to a bit above 3 percent in the current Greenbook.
Bottom-right panel
Change in PCE Prices Excluding Food and Energy

A line chart shows the evolution of the staff forecasts for core PCE price inflation in 2005, 2006, and
2007 since the January 2004 Greenbook. The forecast for core PCE inflation in 2005 (specifically,
growth in the PCE price index from the fourth quarter of 2004 to the fourth quarter of 2005) starts at
1 percent and trends up to about 2 percent by mid-2005 and remains near that level until early 2006
(at which point the line ends). The forecast for core PCE inflation in 2006 starts in mid-2004 at about
1¼ percent, rises to about 2¼ percent by mid-2005, and remains near that level through the current
Greenbook. The forecast for core PCE inflation in 2007 starts in mid-2005 at about 2 percent and
trends down slightly through the current Greenbook.

Exhibit 2
The Case for Tighter Policy
Top panel
Range of Estimated Equilibrium Real Rates
A line chart reproduces the Bluebook chart on staff estimates of the equilibrium real interest rate, R*.
The 90-percent confidence interval around the staff estimates of R* prepared for the current FOMC
meeting ranges from roughly 0 to 5 percent. The 70-percent confidence interval ranges from about 1
to 4 percent. The range of the staff estimates is roughly 2 to 3 percent. The Greenbook-consistent
measure of R* is currently about 2½ percent. The actual real federal funds rate is currently about 2½
percent, and would be about 2¾ percent if the Committee tightened policy by 25 basis points. Over
the period since mid-2004, the actual real federal funds rate has trended higher, moving from about
-1 percent to its current value of 2½ percent. The range of estimated values of R* has only moved
slightly higher over the same period.

Explanatory notes are provided after Chart 5 of the Bluebook.

Bottom-left panel
Staff Forecast
Unemployment rate

Core PCE inflation

- percent 2005

5.1

1.9

2006:H1

4.8

2.0

2006:H2

4.8

2.2

2007

4.9

1.9

Bottom-right panel
House Price Growth
A line chart showing actual house price inflation, measured as the four-quarter percent change in the
OFHEO all transactions index, for 2003 to 2005 and the staff forecast for 2006 and 2007. The growth
rate increased from about 7 percent in 2003 to about 13 percent in 2005, and it is projected to fall
back to just over 2 percent by the end of 2007.
Source: OFHEO All Transactions Index

Exhibit 3
When Are You Going to Stop?
Top-left panel
Expected End of Policy Tightening
A bar chart showing the probability investors put on the Committee ending the current tightening
cycle by the time of each of the next four meetings, based on federal funds futures prices as of March
27, 2006, and assuming that there are no intermeeting moves and that the Committee will choose to
tighten 25 basis points at each meeting until it stops tightening. The probability of stopping by the
time of the March meeting is essentially zero. The probability of stopping by the May meeting is
about 30 percent. The probability of stopping by the June meeting is about 80 percent. The
probability of stopping by the August meeting is more than 90 percent.
Note. Estimates from federal funds futures with an allowance for term premia.

Top-right panel
Simple Policy Rules
A line chart reproducing the Bluebook chart showing the implications of simple policy rules over the
rest of 2006 and 2007 based on a 2 percent inflation objective. The actual federal funds rate and the
path in the Greenbook are above the paths implied by all three of the rules shown (the baseline
Taylor rule, the aggressive Taylor rule, and the first-difference rule). For the next two quarters, the
Greenbook path is more than half a percentage point above the rates implied by the two Taylor rules.
By contrast, the Greenbook path is only a few tenths of a percent above the first difference rule over
this period.
Note. Additional explanatory notes are provided after Chart 7 of the Bluebook.

Middle panel
Federal Funds Rate and Long-run Expected Short Rate
A line chart shows the target federal funds rate and the long-run expected short rate implied by the
staff's three-factor, no-arbitrage model of the Treasury yield curve over the period since June 2004.
The target funds rate steps up gradually from 1 percent to 4½ percent over this period, while the
long-run expected short rate is about flat between roughly 4 and 4½ percent.
Bottom-left panel
Staff Forecast of Real GDP
A line chart reproducing a figure in the Greenbook showing the 70-percent and 90-percent
confidence intervals around the staff forecast of real GDP growth (calculated as a four-quarter
percent change). By the end of 2007, the forecast growth rate is about 3 percent, with the 70-percent
confidence interval ranging from 1½ to 4¾ percent, and the 90-percent confidence interval ranging
from less than 1 percent to more than 5½ percent.
Bottom-right panel
Inflation Compensation Five to Ten Years Ahead
A line chart showing the five year forward five year inflation compensation implied by yields on
nominal Treasury securities and TIPS over the period since the start of 2005. The series fluctuates
between about 2.4 and 2.8 percent over the period, with the most recent values a little under 2.6
percent.

Exhibit 4
Statement Issues
Top panel
Balance of Risks
The Committee judges that some further policy firming may be needed to keep the risks to the
attainment of both sustainable economic growth and price stability roughly in balance.
Top-middle left panel
Estimated Policy Rules
A line chart showing the 70-percent and 90-percent confidence intervals around the values of the
federal funds rate implied by estimated policy rules. By the end of 2007, the 70-percent confidence
interval ranges from about 3½ percent to over 6 percent, and the 90-percent confidence interval
ranges from about 2½ percent to 7 percent.
Explanatory notes are provided after Chart 6 of the Bluebook.

Top-middle right panel
Market Expectations
A line chart showing the expected policy path priced into federal funds and Eurodollar futures, and
the 70-percent and 90-percent confidence intervals around those expectations implied by options
prices. By the end of 2007, the 70-percent confidence interval ranges from about 4 to 5½ percent,
while the 90-percent confidence interval ranges from about 3½ to 6 percent.

Bottom-middle panel
Data Dependence
Nevertheless, future policy action will be determined by the evolution of the economic outlook as
implied by incoming information.
Bottom panels
Effects of Employment Report Surprises on Two-Year Treasury Yields
The bottom panels show standardized non-farm payroll surprises on the horizontal axis and the
change in the two-year Treasury yield in basis points over a short interval surrounding the payroll
report on the vertical axis. The panels include an estimated regression line.
Bottom-left panel
January 1997 to December 2002

The effects of payroll surprises on the two-year yield were relatively small.
Bottom-center panel
January 2003 to December 2004

The effects of payroll surprises were about three times as large as in the earlier period.
Bottom-right panel
January 2005 to present

Over this relatively short period, the effects of payroll surprises appear to be roughly comparable to
the smaller effects seen in the 1997 to 2002 period.

Table 1:
Alternative Language for the March FOMC Announcement (March 28, 2006)
[Note: In Appendix 2, Table 1, emphasis (strike-through) has been added to indicate red strike-through text in the original document. Strong emphasis
(bold) has been added to indicate normal red text in the original document. Exception: On rows 2 and 3 (Rationale), in the columns for Alternatives A,
B, and C, the default text color in the original document is red, and emphasis and strong emphasis indicate blue strike-through text and normal blue
text respectively in the original document.]

January FOMC

Alternative A

Alternative B

Alternative C

Rationale

The Federal Open Market
Committee decided today to
keep raise its target for the
federal funds rate unchanged
by 25 basis points to at 4½
percent.

The Federal Open Market
Committee decided today to
raise its target for the federal
funds rate by 25 basis points
to 4¾4½ percent.

The Federal Open Market
Committee decided today to
raise its target for the federal
funds rate by 25 basis points
to 4¾4½ percent.

2. Although recent economic
data have been uneven, the
expansion in economic
activity appears solid.

Policy
Decision

1. The Federal Open Market
Committee decided today to
raise its target for the federal
funds rate by 25 basis points
to 4½ percent.

The slowing of the growth of
real GDP in the fourth quarter
of 2005 seems largely to have
reflected temporary or special
factors. Economic growth has
rebounded in the current
quarter, and the underlying
pace of expansion appears to
be solid. Resource utilization
has risen further this year.
Some recent data and
anecdotal information suggest

The slowing of the growth of
real GDP in the fourth quarter
of 2005 seems largely to have
reflected temporary or special
factors. Economic growth has
rebounded strongly in the
current quarter but appears
likely to moderate to a more
sustainable pace. and the
underlying pace of expansion
appears to be solid.

Economic growth has
rebounded strongly in the
current quarter, and the
underlying pace of expansion
appears to be solid.

January FOMC

Alternative A

Alternative B

Alternative C

As yet, the run-up in the
prices of energy and other
commodities has had only a
modest effect on core
inflation, ongoing
productivity gains have held
the growth of unit labor costs
in check, and inflation
expectations remain
contained. Still, possible
increases in resource
utilization, in combination
with the elevated prices of
energy and other
commodities, have the
potential to add to inflation
pressures. going forward.

In addition to increases in
resource utilization, the
elevated prices of energy and
other commodities have the
potential to add to inflation
pressures going forward. As
yet, however, inflation
expectations remain
contained.

that the housing market is
moderating, which the
Committee believes will
likely contribute to a slowing
in economic growth to a more
sustainable pace.
3. Core inflation has stayed
relatively low in recent
months and longer-term
inflation expectations remain
contained. Nevertheless,
possible increases in resource
utilization as well as elevated
energy prices have the
potential to add to inflation
pressures.

In addition to possible
increases in resource
utilization, the elevated prices
of energy and other
commodities have the
potential to add to inflation
pressures going forward. As
yet, however, the run-up in
those prices has had only a
modest effect on core
inflation, ongoing
productivity gains have held
the growth of unit labor costs
in check, and inflation
expectations remain
contained.

4. The Committee judges that
some further policy firming
may be needed to keep the
risks to the attainment of both
sustainable economic growth
and price stability roughly in
Assessment balance.
of Risk

The Committee judges that
maintaining the federal
funds rate at its current
level will likely keep some
further policy firming may be
needed to keep the risks to the
attainment of both sustainable
economic growth and price
stability roughly in balance.

[Unchanged]

Nevertheless, future policy
action will be determined by
the evolution of the
economic outlook as implied
by incoming information.

[Unchanged]

5. In any event, the
Committee will respond to
changes in economic
prospects as needed to foster
these objectives.

The Committee judges that
some further policy firming
may be needed to keep the
risks to the attainment of both
sustainable economic growth
and price stability roughly in
balance.

[Unchanged]

Appendix 3: Materials used by Ms. Danker
Review of Meeting Format
Did the extra time enhance the discussion? Did it allow for more interaction among
participants?
Were the economic and policy discussions effectively separated this time? Is that separation
one that is worth preserving?
How did this format affect (if at all) the Committee's ability to provide input to the formulation
of the statement, both before and during the meeting?
Any suggestions for changes to the two-day format?
The next meeting will of necessity be only one day. Does the experience of yesterday and
today suggest any format changes to consider for one-day meetings?

Return to top

Home | Monetary policy | FOMC | FOMC transcripts
Accessibility | Contact Us
Last update: January 12, 2012