The full text on this page is automatically extracted from the file linked above and may contain errors and inconsistencies.
A meeting of the executive committee of the Federal Open Mar ket Committee was held in the offices of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System in Washington on Friday, May 8, 1942, at 10:00 a.m. PRESENT: Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Eccles, Chairman Sproul, Vice Chairman Szymczak Draper Alfred H. Williams Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Mr. Morrill, Secretary Carpenter, Assistant Secretary Wyatt, General Counsel Goldenweiser, Economist John H. Williams, Associate Economist Rouse, Manager of the System Open Market Account Mr. Piser, Chief, Government Securities Section, Division of Research and Statistics of the Board of Governors Mr. Berntson, Clerk in the Office of the Secretary of the Board of Governors Messrs. McKee, Ransom, Evans, Gilbert, Young, and Leedy, members of the Federal Open Market Committee Messrs. Paddock, Fleming, McLarin, and Day, alternate members of the Federal Open Mar ket Committee Messrs. Leach and Peyton, Presidents of the Federal Reserve Banks of Richmond and Minneapolis, respectively Mr. Attebery, Vice President of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Mr. Sienkiewicz, Conference Chairman Eccles stated that it Secretary of the Presidents' was contemplated that a committee representing the Board and the Presidents would meet with representatives -2 5/8/42 of the Treasury and a committee representing the investment bankers' group at the Treasury at 1:00 o'clock today for the purpose of formu lating recommendations relating to an organization to promote the dis tribution of Government securities, other than Series E war savings bonds, and that following the meeting of the Federal Open Market Com mittee this morning there would be a meeting of the Board and the Presidents for a discussion of that matter before the meeting at the Treasury. Upon motion duly made and seconded, and by unanimous vote, the minutes of the meetings of the executive committee of the Federal Open Market Committee held on Feb ruary 28 and March 2, 1942, were approved. As of the close of May 4, 1942, the holdings in the System account had been increased by the net amount of $169,435,000 through purchases and sales of Government securities under the authority of the resolution adopted at the last meeting of the executive committee, and on May 5, in order that the Federal Reserve Bank of New York might have ample authority to deal with the situation pending another meeting of the executive committee, with paragraph (3) the members of the committee, in accordance of the resolution adopted at the last meeting, au thorized an increase from $200,000,000 to $400,000,000 in the amount stated in paragraph (2) of the resolution so as to authorize the New York Bank to make such outright purchases or sales (which would include authority to allow maturities to run off without replacement) for the -3 5/8/42 System account as might be necessary for the purpose of exercising an influence toward maintaining orderly market conditions, provided that the total amount of securities in the account be not increased or de creased through operations under that paragraph by more than $400,000,000. Upon motion duly made and seconded, and by unanimous vote, the action taken by the members of the executive committee to increase the authority granted to the New York Bank to effect transactions in the Sys tem account was approved, ratified, and con firmed. Copies of a report prepared at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York covering open market operations during the period from March 2, 1942, to May 6, 1942, inclusive, were distributed, and Mr. Rouse read the more important sections of the report. He also stated that on May 7, 1942, the New York Bank purchased $3,170,000 of Treasury bills, and $4,980,000 of Treasury bills were purchased by two other Reserve Banks for the System account. Upon motion duly made and seconded, and by unanimous vote, the transactions in the System account during the period from March 2 to May 7, 1942, inclusive, were approved, ratified, and confirmed. Thereupon the meeting recessed to reconvene following the meet ing of the Federal Open Market Committee. Secretary. Approved: Chairman.
@FedFRASER