Federal Reserve Board

23 June 2008 -- Top officials of the U.S. central bank are expected to hold interest rates steady when they gather at a key policymaking meeting Tuesday and Wednesday in Washington.

The U.S. Federal Reserve has cut interest rates several times recently to bolster economic growth that has been hurt by the faltering housing market, tight credit, and other problems.

But economists say cutting rates too low can spark inflation, which is a growing threat as oil prices soar to ever higher record levels.

Experts interviewed by news organizations, like Bloomberg and Reuters, say the Fed will probably keep interest rates unchanged for a while, but raise them later this year.

Source: VOA News

April 2, 2008 -- Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben S. Bernanke: Chairman Schumer, Vice Chairman Maloney, Representative Saxton, and other members of the Committee, I am pleased to appear before the Joint Economic Committee. In response to deterioration in the near-term outlook for the economy and intensified strains in financial markets, in recent months the Federal Reserve has eased monetary policy substantially further and taken strong actions to increase market liquidity.

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke: Photo by trackrecord (CC)    » read more »

March 16, 2008 -- The Federal Reserve on Sunday announced two initiatives designed to bolster market liquidity and promote orderly market functioning. Liquid, well-functioning markets are essential for the promotion of economic growth.    » read more »

February 26, 2008 -- On February 25, 2008, the Federal Reserve conducted an auction of $30 billion in 28-day credit through its Term Auction Facility. Following are the results of the auction:

Stop-out rate: 3.080 percent

Total propositions submitted: $67.958 billion
Total propositions accepted: $30.000 billion
Bid/cover ratio: 2.27

Number of bidders: 72

Bids at the stop-out rate were prorated at 69.85% and resulting awards were rounded to the nearest $10,000 (except that all awards below $10,000 are rounded up to $10,000).    » read more »

New York, NY and Charlotte, NC, August 22, 2007 - JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE: JPM), Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) and Wachovia Corporation (NYSE: WB) jointly announced today that they have made use, on a limited basis, of the discount window facility announced by the Federal Reserve Board late last week. In transactions intended to display the effectiveness of the facility, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wachovia each borrowed $500 million, including some on a term basis, at the discount window.    » read more »